Teacher detained after bringing unlicensed gun to church for ‘blessing’

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CEBU CITY, Philippines—A part-time teacher of a government-owned university finds himself in hot water.

Geofre Radoc, 51, has been detained at the Carmen police station after he brought an unlicensed firearm to church to have it blessed on Jan. 10, the start of the election gun ban.

He had been one of the five persons arrested in Cebu since Sunday for gun ban violation.

Radoc, a part-time teacher of Maritime Law, Naval Architecture and Economics at the Cebu Technological University (CTU) in Carmen, denied owning the 9mm pistol.

“The gun was not mine. I was just asked to have the gun blessed,” he said.

Radoc, a Navy soldier who was dismissed from the service, could not remember the man’s face, saying “it was very dark” when the gun was handed to him.

Radoc dropped by the St. Augustine de Hippo church to hear early morning Mass on Jan. 10 before heading to his review for the teachers licensure exams.

Churchgoers, however, became alarm when they noticed a gun tucked on Radoc’s waist. One of them sought police assistance.

After having the gun blessed, he walked out of the church but was instead accosted by the police.

On Tuesday, he was brought to the Provincial Prosector’s Office on Tuesday for the filing of charges against him.

He was brought back to the Carmen police station where he would stay until the court had issued an order, transferring him to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. TVJ