The Philippine National Police (PNP) has received more than 200 permit to carry firearms requests from priests and religious people, police chief Dir. Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde said on Wednesday.
Albayalde made the announcement more than a week after the brutal killing of Nueva Ecija priest Fr. Richmond Nilo, the third priest killed in the country in the past six months.
Albayalde said 246 have filed permit to carry firearms outside their residences. Of these, 188 are priests while 58 are ministers, preachers, and pastors.
The data covers requests from June 2017 to June 2018. The issuance of permits were halted during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from April to May.
The police chief, however, said the PNP has yet to check their records if the requests for permit to carry firearms from priests and religious people have increased.
Nilo was the third priest to be killed in the past year: last April, Fr. Mark Ventura was gunned down after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan; last December, Fr. Marcelito Paez was killed a few hours after assisting the release of a political prisoner in Jaen, Nueva Ecija. /vvp