Ex-Army general gives up gun cache to PNP

MANILA, Philippines - Heeding the call of the Philippine National Police to surrender all loose or undocumented firearms, a retired Army general personally surrendered his cache of guns to PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa.

Asked why he decided to give up his guns, the 76-year old retired brigadier general Danilo Lazo said he has no more use for them. “I have learned to trust God and the PNP for my personal safety,” he said.

Lazo, who served as deputy chief of staff for materiel development of the Armed Forces of the Philippines until his retirement in 1979, surrendered his service .45 caliber pistol, a .22 caliber rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 revolver and an experimental 5.56 caliber AR-103 rifle developed by Armalite. Lazo said he kept the AR-103 after it failed evaluation and testing for use by the AFP in 1988.

According to Lazo, aside from his service .45 caliber pistol, the other guns were given to him as gifts during his 34 years of military service.

Verzosa lauded Lazo’s decision as he appealed to other retired police and military officials to follow suit. The PNP gave Lazo a token of appreciation.

Last week, 79-year-old retired Navy man Manuel Cruelda also personally surrendered his .22 caliber revolver to Verzosa. Although Cruelda could have renewed the license of his pistol, he decided to surrender it instead to the PNP. His gun license expired two years ago.

Meanwhile, Verzosa said the PNP will continue its drive to reduce the number of loose guns in the country, estimated at 1.1 million, by three percent each month even after the amnesty period ends on Oct. 31.

He repeated his call to all gun owners to surrender loose guns or avail of the amnesty and have their guns documented without paying the penalties.

For his part, PNP Civil Security Group director, Chief Superintendent Ireno Bacolod said all seized and surrendered loose guns will be evaluated. If they are still serviceable, they will be kept in the PNP’s Firearms and Explosive Division vault at Camp Crame for possible use by either the police or the military. Guns deemed beyond repair will be smelted and turned into farming tools, he said.

Yesterday, the PNP presented 651 assorted guns – 604 .38 caliber revolvers, 26 shotguns, and 21 .22 caliber revolvers – seized over the past two months from different private security agencies that had already closed shop.