By Danny O. Sagun

Pangasinan (6 February) -- THE provincial government has set aside P30 million for the purchase of firearms for the barangays.

But the firearms would only be shotguns, not the fancied high-powered long or short ones, Gov. Amado T. Espino clarified Thursday in a radio interview. "Aliwa ya Armalite o machine gun odino (caliber).45 ya sarag dan ibulsa ya awiten ed paway," he said.

The idea was to provide barangay chairmen some sort of protection against criminal elements especially in far-flung barangays, he said. 'At least wala met so iyarap dad saray manggegetmay makapuy ed saray lugarda," he noted.

Espino defended the gun purchase despite his earlier move of imposing a total gun ban in the province. Observers saw the two moves as contradictory.

Arming barangay captains was a campaign promise he reportedly made during the last elections.

Espino, a former police official, further clarified that arming barangay officials does not mean the province is being portrayed as having peace and order problems. "No not really," he said.

The awards given to the local police only showed that law enforcement agencies here are doing their job. The provincial police office and the Dagupan city police station were adjudged the best in the country in their respective categories.