New Year gunfire ‘unavoidable’

NAGA CITY—If there’s any place most dangerous during New Year Eve revelry, it could be Masbate where authorities expressed helplessness against indiscriminate firing of guns by residents welcoming 2012.

At least three mayors of the province said all they could do was appeal to gun owners not to fire their guns and were virtually powerless to enforce the law against indiscriminate firing.

“The [local] government can only do so much but, at the end of the day, it all depends on the gun owner,” said Mayor Joshur Judd Lanete of Placer, one of the province’s larger towns, 63 kilometers from Masbate City.

Placer has a high incidence of gun-related crimes, according to a report from the Masbate Police Office.

In Balud town, 60 km from Masbate City, Mayor Ruel Benisano admitted that the municipal government was almost powerless against indiscriminate firing.

“We could not keep watch on everyone especially those who are in the villages. We have very few law enforcers,” said Benisano.

All he could do, he said, was to remind barangay officials and police to discourage gun owners against indiscriminate firing.

“We rely on increased police visibility to lower, if not prevent incidents of indiscriminate firing, in our town,” said Lanete.

Unlicensed firearms proliferate in Masbate and have been tagged as the main cause of murders and shootings that have put the southernmost Bicol province in a bad light.

In Masbate City, Mayor Socrates Tuason said all he could do was also just encourage gun owners, “especially those who are licensed,” not to fire their weapons on New Year’s Eve.

On Tuesday, the entire police force of the province, under Senior Supt. Heriberto Olitoquit, taped the muzzles of policemen’s firearms to detect if these would be fired on New Year’s Eve.

Cases of indiscriminate firing of guns have resulted in serious injuries and loss of lives in the province, Olitoquit said on Wednesday.

Police also appealed to residents to heed the law governing the sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers.

Sellers of firecrackers in the province have been required to secure permits from the police.

The celebration of New Year was expected to be less scary elsewhere.

In Bacolod City officials said they were preparing for a celebration that could turn the city into the country’s New Year’s Eve capital.

The city, according to Mayor Evelio Leonardia, would start a countdown from 6 p.m. with light shows, entertainment programs and fireworks displays.

“People can party until the sun rises on Jan. 1,” said the mayor. With a report by Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas