Robredo opposes arming village officials

Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA ROSA

Vice President Leni Robredo has opposed the idea of arming village chiefs across the country as a way to protect themselves amid the war on drugs and criminality.

It was President Rodrigo Duterte who floated the idea of issuing firearms to village officials to further maintain peace and order within their communities.

Duterte earlier said that he “might consider” arming them to ensure their protection.

“I am not in favor of arming village officials because that is not their mandate (peacekeeping),” Robredo told reporters in Filipino in an interview in Naga City on Monday.

Robredo stressed that arming village officials was not the answer to maintaining peace and order in villages.

READ: Arming barangay captains will be ‘recipe for disaster’ — solons

“Village officials are the ones performing the executive functions. There are already peacekeeping (institutions)—we have policemen and soldiers. They have their own respective roles in the community,” the vice president said.

“There are many other ways to maintain peace and order, and there is no need to arm village officials,” she added. /je