CEBU CITY — A former mayor of Medellin town in Cebu province was arrested after a raid in his house yielded guns and drug paraphernalia on Wednesday.
According to the police, Medellin Councilor Ricardo Ramirez, who served as mayor for three terms from 2007 to 2016, is on the drug watch list of the Cebu provincial police office.
No illegal drugs were found but operatives recovered at least three unlicensed firearms, a digital weighing scale and tin foils. Policemen were armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Jacinto Fajardo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 66 in Talisay City.
Ramirez said he bought the firearms from friends and acquaintances while he was serving as mayor.
“I could hardly refuse,” he said. “These were useful because I used to join the Bantay Dagat in patrolling [municipal waters].”
He said even policemen in Medellin, in some instances, had borrowed his firearms during operations.
But Ramirez said he lost interest in maintaining his firearms after he stepped down from office, noting only a few guns were left in his possession. Its licenses, he said, had expired.
“I am no longer the mayor, so I am not responsible for our town’s peace and order,” he said. “I no longer cleaned my firearms. Some of them have started to rust.”
He denied insinuations that he was protecting the illegal drug trade in his town.
Ramirez, 53, said he was willing to undergo a drug test.
Medellin Mayor Benjun Mondigo thanked authorities for Ramirez’s arrest.
“The long arm of the law finally caught up with him,” Mondigo told the Inquirer in a text message.
Senior Supt. Eric Noble, Cebu police director, said the provincial police were monitoring activities of drug suspects, including policemen and local government officials, who were suspected of protecting the local drug trade. —ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL