Being a Barangay Captain is Dangerous Work

Being a Barangay captain is dangerous work. So dangerous that the LGUs have bought guns for their Barangay captains.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/488628/carcar-10-brgy-chiefs-turn-over-guns-with-expired-licenses

Ten incumbent barangay captains in Carcar City turned over their firearms with expired licenses during the police’s Oplan Katok on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Ten firearms with expired licenses were accounted by the Carcar City police, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Ardioleto Cabagnot, chief of Carcar City Police Station.

Cabagnot refused to divulge the names of these barangay captains for now. They will also continue to talk and visit the remaining five barangay captains in the city to also turnover their firearms with expired licenses.

These firearms are placed under the watch of the city police station while the owners were still processing their permits to carry these guns again.

Oplan Katok, which was started in 2013, is a police operation, where police personnel would visit the houses of residents with expired gun licenses and those suspected to have unlicensed guns.

Cabagnot said that the local government unit purchased these firearms a few years ago, which were intended for the barangay captains as their additional security given the nature of their jobs.

“…kaniadto nipalit sila [LGU] firearm intended sa kapitan. It so happened nga niabot nga expire na. Lisod pod makadisgrasya sila … mas maayo maaccount ang expired firearms para di maproblema ,” Cabagnot said.

(…they (LGU) bought firearms quite a while back for the barangay captains. It so happened that their gun licenses had already expired. It is a difficult situation because they might cause an accident…it will be better if the expired firearms will be accounted for so that there will be no problems for them.)

Cabagnot said that this was also their preparation for the coming barangay election that would happen this October 2023.

How exactly is it that Barangay captains need guns due to "the nature of their jobs?" Could it be due to the fact that so many Barangay captains and councilors are routinely targeted for assassination? When a motorcycle pulls up discreetly and the rider on back starts firing that gun won't offer any protection. A security detail would offer much better protection.

But then again when a governor can be assassinated in his own home no one is safe. Politics is truly an evil ans dangerous game in the Philippines.