Ex-mayor faces raps for firing gun

By: Felipe V. Celino

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – A former mayor of Pres. Roxas, Capiz is facing string of criminal cases after he used a government property as a gun-firing range Tuesday afternoon.

Former Mayor Don Ramon Locsin was arrested by members of the Provincial Mobile Force Company after firing his gun at Resources Livelihood Training Center (RLTC), a government facility in Barangay Cabug-Cabug in President Roxas town.

Locsin is now under hospital arrest in a private hospital here after his blood pressure spiked.

According to Capiz Police Provincial Office Director, Col. Canilo Fuentes, he received a call from a concerned citizen regarding the series of gun firing incidents in the area which caused alarm and panic among the residents.

He immediately instructed the police to confirm the report.

He said that some male bystanders tried to stop PMFC officers from entering the area.

Recovered from the former mayor were two .45-caliber pistols and several empty ammunition shells.

Fuentes added that the police are still conducting an investigation regarding the alleged presence of armed men around the area.

It was alleged that some PNP members from Silay City, Negros Occidental joined Locsin in the gun firing spree.

Locsin is facing charges for alarm and scandal, trespass to government property, indiscriminate firing and illegal possession of firearm.

He is the father of former mayor and former Capiz first district board member Raymund Locsin.

Meanwhile, President Roxas Mayor Receliste Tanoy Escolin said Locsin was innocent in making the area as firing range.

He blamed Cabug-Cabug village chief and former vice mayor Renato Golero for telling Don Ramon that RLTC could be used as firing range.

Escolin stressed that somebody from the President Roxas Municipal Police Station told him that Locsin had asked if he could use the place as a ‘firing’ range.

“I think that Kapitan Golero knew that it is prohibited to fire a gun in the facilities of the government,” he said, adding that he received information that Golero himself told Locsin that he is free to hold gun firing activities in the area.

Escolin recalled that when Locsin’s son Raymund was mayor of the town, there were proposals to build a firing range in the area.

It was learned that the area was formerly owned by the Locsins but it was donated by the family to the municipal government.

Escolin said he has a tax declaration stating that the area is owned by the municipal government. He, however, he did not use the lot to avoid misunderstanding the reason why he assigned a caretaker to maintain the facilities.

The incumbent mayor is preparing to file charges against Golero.