City Hall set to renew licenses of 300 guns

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City's Department of General Services (DGS) will be renewing the licenses of some 300 city-owned recalled firearms which have been in their custody for more than a year now.

DGS Chief Ronaldo Malacora told The FREEMAN that he will be heading to Camp Crame in November to process the licensing of these firearms.

He will submit documents which includes licenses to own and possess firearms,  inventory report and certificate of availability of funds.

As of press time,  the DGS office is still finalizing the list of firearms which are under their custody, said Malacora.

"Ang i-renew of course kadtong naa sa atoang custody.  Naa ma'y wala ma-uli sa previous holder nga wala na diri sa city," Malacora said.

To recall,  these firearms were previously issued to barangay captains,  department heads,  police officers, and judges.

But on  July 15 last year, a memorandum signed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña addressed to the firearm holders recalling these firearms, stating that the licenses was already expired.

"You are hereby directed to return all issued firearms under your possession to the City Government through the General Services Office (GSO) within five days from receipt of the notice. Henceforth, you can no longer use and possess these firearms owned by the City Government without my written consent or authority,” the memorandum reads.

Sought for comment  if there is a possibility that these firearms will be issued back to the previous holders,  Malacora admitted  he was not sure about it.

"Di pa ko katubag ana, sure siguro ang sa pulis mabalik na," he said.

In a separate  interview,  Osmeña said he hasn't thought about it yet.

"Haven't thought, got other things to think, " he told The FREEMAN.

Malacora divulged that the expenses of the renewal will be charged under DGS. Based on his knowledge,  renewal cost will range from P 3,000 to P 4,000 per firearm. —/JBB (FREEMAN)