Features OpiniOn Gun culture

In Cebu last week, police armed with a court warrant raided the home of the barangay captain of Baclayan in Boljoon town, and arrested Elderson Han Baldezamo Mabalatan on gun charges. The police reported confiscating from the village chief two .45-caliber pistols and a hand grenade.

Earlier on March 20, another village chairman who is president of the local association of barangay captains, Angelito de Mesa of Barangay Masaya in Bay, Laguna, was arrested following a police search of his home. The raiders reported seizing an M16 rifle equipped with a silencer and telescope, a 9mm machine pistol, ammunition and magazines for the guns.