JUST how exactly can one reconcile one’s impression of San Francisco, Camotes Mayor Aly Arquillano, the award-winning mayor for governance efforts, to the recent arrest for possession of illegal firearms recently.
Last Thursday, April 4, agents of the Provincial Intelligence Bureau (PIB) of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) searched the mayor’s house and found illegal firearms.
The raid was done simultaneously in the house of Vice Mayor Alfredo Arquillano, and operatives seized a magazine of caliber .45 pistol, one live ammunition of 9mm caliber pistol, one caliber 22 rifle, three cellular phones (Nokia, Samsung and Huawei), one magazine of caliber .45 pistol and seven ammunition, one caliber .45 pistol (chamber load) with five ammunition, one AR 15 rifle with 12 ammunition, and one fragmentation hand grenade.
Though Mayor Aquillano was one of those that the Department of the Interior and Local Government sued for alleged failure to activate an anti-drug council, the news seemed to have fizzled quite easily because there was a track record that spoke otherwise.
San Francisco was one of those places that etched their name in the international discourse on disaster management. The island town caught our attention after the supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013 when, although it was well in the battered path, it showed no record of human casualty. It was all because the local government instituted a “purok system,” a sub-village support system of sorts against potential disaster.
San Francisco has become a role model for good governance, most especially in the aspect of disaster resilience. A quick tour in the town shows you just what that means—from street signs to rainfall monitoring, to solid waste management and environmental preservation, among others.
If it’s true that the Arquillanos are indeed involved in the illegal drug trade, then we’d be hearing one of the most unfortunate twists ever in the history of good governance and local “best practices” initiatives.
In the season of political noise, this is unfortunate news.