MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police denied the allegations of Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. that he was singled out in its recent move to revoke his firearms license.
“Since [Rep.] Teves’ license application was found to have lacking documents, PNP had no choice but to revoke the same. The fact that a deficient license was issued to [Rep.] Teves does not grant him any ‘vested rights,’” the PNP-Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) said in a statement.
According to the FEO, Teves was “duly notified” of the deficiencies in his license, and it was he who “peacefully surrendered” the concerned firearms to the PNP unit.
In a statement on Jan. 25, FEO chief Col. Kenneth Lucas said it revoked 240 firearm licenses and confiscated 684 firearms registered under licenses found to be involved in various violations and crimes over the past four years.
“No one is exempted from our enforcement of the law. Our implementation is always fair and judicious in accordance with existing laws and regulations,” Lucas said.
In an open letter dated Jan. 27, (which was published as a full-page advertisement in the Inquirer’s Jan. 30 issue), Teves asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to intervene on the matter.