The lows of Philippine gun Regulation

Executive Order (EO) 194, an edict issued by former President Joseph Estrada, stipulates that any Filipino may own firearms provided that such are not used for war; a Filipino may own as many firearms as he or she may desire.

Such provisions have recently undergone review as the country’s lawmakers have entered into discussions on stricter controls on gun ownership and licensing, following the discovery of high caliber firearms in the trunk of Presidential Adviser Ronaldo Llamas’ Mitsubishi Montero last October.

Recalling the Llamas case

The Montero, then manned by Llamas staff Joey Tecson and John Alarcon, encountered a road mishap in Quezon City. It was only upon investigation by the police that an AK-47, an M-16 assault rifle and other rifle arms were discovered. Llamas, on a diplomatic trip to Switzerland at the time of the discovery, dismissed his two staff upon returning to the Philippines. He also offered to resign from his post following the controversy, although this did not push through.

Upon investigation of the case by Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives Division Chief Superintendent Napoleon Estiles, he concluded that the case would have no legal repercussions or penalties because even civilians are permitted by law to own guns of such caliber. “We allow that. There are rules and regulations that allow civilians to possess high-powered firearms,” he explains.

Critics from the Senate and the House of Representatives questioned the dangers involved in Llamas’ position and whether an AK-47 – a high-powered assault rifle manufactured and used extensively by terrorist factions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe – would be the weapon of choice as a safeguard.

Arcadio Malbarosa from the Political Science Department shares similar sentiments. “There should be a law that prescribes and proscribes the use of certain guns for certain types of people. If you are a security escort assigned to a politician receiving death threats, then what type of weapon should you use?”

Widely used

Guns are easily accessible in the Philippines, being one of the last few countries globally recognized to permit civilian possession of a wide range of firearms. The basic requirements for a license to own a firearm include a certificate of good moral character, a drug test, police clearance, valid identification and a neuro-psychiatric test.

Private citizens can opt not to take the neuro-psychiatric test.  Requirements are also different from a permit to carry, an entirely different affair compared to a license. An ABS-CBN investigative program aired last Aug. 20 cites that the permit is simpler to acquire, as it is “easier to talk to people who handle the distribution of such permits’’.

Cullen Diaz (II, POM) is a professional gun hobbyist. While still too young to actually own a gun, he admits being exposed to the field since he was 15. “I saw my dad shooting and it looked [interesting], so I asked him to teach me.”

He cites that one of the most important parts of satisfying a carrying permit is the formal Arms Corporation of the Philippines (ARMSCOR) training needed to use the firearm and a mission order (M.O.) indicating the specific purpose for carrying the gun. ARMSCOR is the largest private firearm manufacturing company in the country.

Diaz, however, shares dismay over what seems to be a lack of regulation with firearms. “We live in a society where you can get .45 calibers (automatic pistols) easily without any M.O.’s. These are usually on the news: illegal guns used to kill people.”

The PNP’s Firearms and Explosives Division estimates that there are about 1.4 million registered guns in the country, not counting the presumed four million illegal and unlicensed firearms in the possession of both civilians and organized crime groups.

“Our basic problem is that there are unlicensed firearms proliferating in our society,” laments Malbarosa. “That is our source of insecurity. [We want to] protect ourselves from these unlicensed or floating firearms, and so we get our own firearms to protect ourselves. You find us in a situation where things only become worse.”

Illegal firearms are also smuggled from the international black market, and are used to employ private armies around the country. Beneficiaries of such include insurgency groups located in the South, particularly the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Bigger problems

EO 194 and other laws permitting an unrestricted number of guns as well as a strained executive regulating body and the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division, may be linked to the perpetration of gun-related crimes and incidents. Such incidents have by number, not gone down since 2008, where 3,303 recorded incidents involved guns. The year 2009 saw 4,711 recorded incidents, and in 2010, 5,779 incidents, the most infamous and shocking is the Maguindanao massacre of 58 people.

The role of poor gun regulation on extra-judicial killings is bigger than the discovery of Llamas’ cache of high-powered firearms.

Last October, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, a missionary from the Vatican’s Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), was also killed in Arakan, North Cotabato.

Fr. Tentorio, a priest popular and well loved by the locals, was shot multiple times with a handgun by one of two gunmen in crash helmets. His murder marked the 54th extra-judicial killing under the Aquino administration.

Without a stricter law that will regulate the issuance of guns and the authority of carrying one, the problem of extra-judicial killings and terrorism will continue to heighten.