LAOAG CITY — Police recovered several unlicensed firearms and ammunition from the homes of the incumbent mayor, vice mayor, and a former mayor in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte in a raid on Saturday morning.
Senior Supt. Cesar Pasiwen, newly-assigned Officer-in-Charge of the Ilocos Norte Police, confirmed that police conducted simultaneous serving of search warrants at the homes of Mayor Ferdinand Aguinaldo, Vice Mayor Pedro Rex Aguinaldo, and former mayor Peter Felix Aguinaldo in Pasuquin town.
The incumbent mayor and the former mayor are brothers while the vice mayor is their cousin.
The Philippine News Agency (PNA) tried the reach the local officials for comments but failed. The three have yet to release their official statements.
Pasiwen said they applied for search warrants after reports reached the Philippine National Police that the three officials were keeping unlicensed firearms.
He said they were just doing their job as the Ilocos Norte Police has intensified its drive to go after loose firearms in the province as ordered by the Duterte administration.
“I believe they were reminded by our local police before to surrender their firearms but apparently they did not comply,” Pasiwen said in the vernacular.
As of this posting, police are still conducting an inventory of the confiscated firearms, which include short and long firearms, and several live ammunition. (PNA)
