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LEGAZPI CITY - The proposed imposition of gun ban in Masbate ahead of the election period next year has been shelved following the failure of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) to approve the resolution asking the Philippine National Police (PNP) to suspend all gun permits and licenses in the province.
A report of the Philippine National Police regional headquarters for Bicol here said Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete had asked the PPOC during a meeting over the week to defer the approval of the resolution to give more time for a public consultation. Gov. Lanete, however, stressd she favors the early imposition of the gun ban and said would submit the proposal to the body which she chairs on its meeting next month. The early gun ban is being pushed by the Masbate Provincial Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (PLECC), the civil society’s Masbate Peace Advocates and the local chapter of the Liberal Party (LP) to deter election-related incidents which involved the use of gun. In its recommendation to the PPOC, the PLECC stressed that the gun ban should take effect way ahead of the election period that officially starts on January 1 so that local law enforcers are given more teeth in curtailing politically-motivated violent incidents in the province. Intense political rivalries Masbate has been known as “Murder Capital” of Bicol owing to intense political rivalries that have resulted to killings involving local politicians and their followers. During past elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had placed the province under its control for being a “hot spot.” Police records showed there are at least 3,000 licensed firearms in the possession of some 1,300 registered civilian owners that include private security agencies while the loose firearms are estimated to be more than 4,400. These loose firearms were remnants of the over 4,000 that were either confiscated or surrendered by politicians who were pressed hard by the STFM into giving up their guns and disbanding their private armed groups before the 2010 elections. According to the PLECC, firearms in the possession of either licensed gun-holders or unlicensed owners remain a big threat to the conduct of peaceful, orderly and credible elections in Masbate given its history of violence among warring political camps. Following the process Meanwhile,Bicol PNP regional director Chief Supt. Jose Arne de los Santos said once a resolution favoring the early gun ban is passed, the resolution will be submitted to PNP chief Dir. Gen. Nicanor Bartolome for approval. De los Santos said he is personally in favor of implementing an early gun ban in Masbate insofar as the licensed firearms are concerned. "But it is only the PNP chief who could issue an order for the suspension or cancellation of the Permits to Carry (PTC) issued to its holders,"he explained. ”In the case of the loose firearms," he said “the ban is in effect 24/7, elections or no elections. The hardware is illegal; the police or any other law enforcement agencies have the authority to confiscate them through legal processes like securing warrants from the court." De los Santos added that during the first half of this year, the Masbate police have already seized over a hundred unlicensed firearms and filed criminal charges against the holders as the PNP regional office intensifies its campaign under “Oplan Kontra Boga” not only in Masbate but in the entire Bicol region.
The maintenance of peace and order in the province during election periods is also being attended by Special Task Force Masbate (STFM), an elite unit of lawmen from the PNP Bicol Regional Mobile Group (RMG), the Criminal Investigations and Detection Group (DILG), the Police Special Forces (PSF), and the Philippine Army (PA).
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