Philippines President Arroyo Takes on Armed Gunslinger Society

by Ma Nguyen Tong

6-2-2003

Filipino civilians are no longer allowed to carry firearms in public

It was by all accounts a typical situation in one of Manila's congested main arteries: a sedan and a motorbike jostled over a narrow break in the traffic, the bigger piece of metal got there first, and the biker got sideswiped in the bargain. What followed next was a sharp verbal exchange and a burst of gunfire that left the other motorist, a top-notch law school honours student who was awaiting the results of the bar licensure examinations, bloodied and dead on the road. Road rage had claimed another victim in what is a normal nearly, everyday occurrence in the increasingly barbaric and uncivilised Philippines--do not get into accidents. If the accident does not kill you, there is a good chance the other driver will.

But the death of 26-year-old Jose Ramon Llamas at the hands of the still unidentified and at-large suspect had a salutary consequence, rallying public opinion that pushed the government to muster the political will to confront the entrenched gun culture in the Philippines.

President Gloria Arroyo during the last week of January 2003 banned civilians from taking their licensed handguns out of their homes as she launched a campaign against violent crime where guns are commonly used: bank robberies and house burglaries, kidnappings, piracy, homicide and murder. Previously, Filipino civilians could buy gun ownership licences from the police, and secure a separate permit to carry the weapon outside their homes if, in the opinion of the authorities, the applicant could prove that his or her life is in danger from kidnappers or political enemies.

"We cannot disregard the paramount need of law and order, just as we cannot be heedless of our people's aspirations for peace," Mrs Arroyo said. Police began enforcing the order right away.

Mrs Arroyo also ordered the surrender of hundreds of thousands of unlicensed firearms in civilian hands, giving holders a one-year amnesty before holdouts would face criminal prosecution.

"It is consistent with the national interest that these loose firearms be submitted for licensing," Mrs Arroyo said. The documentation would help police crack unsolved cases of random shootings, she added.

Alone among Asian countries, the Philippines civilian population has an enduring and rather uncivilised love affair with firearms, a legacy of its American colonial heritage. Police have issued at least 800,000 two-year gun licences so far, but say more than 300,000 were not renewed when these expired. A large number, including criminal gangs, communist guerrillas and Muslim separatists, are estimated to keep guns that were never licensed at all--either acquired from domestic gunsmiths, smuggled into the country, stolen from the security forces or sold to them by rogue police and soldiers.

Just like in the United States, boys receive toy guns as Christmas presents and grow up idolising gunslinger heroes of cowboy or gangster movies.

Commercial establishments like banks, restaurants and offices in Manila exhibit an eerie "Wild West" character: armed security guards man entrances. Along with wet umbrellas, the guards require visitors to leave their handguns outside.

Though gun clubs and shooting ranges are popular, many Filipinos prefer to shoot their guns in the air during New Year's Eve revelry that lasts all night. The gun discharges, along with firecracker injuries, shoot up into the hundreds every year. One father accidentally shot dead a five-year-old daughter in one such revelry in 2002. More alarmingly, guns are increasingly being used to settle traffic disputes in Manila.

The presidential initiative was generally received well by political leaders even among the opposition.

"It is high time for the president to exercise the resolve to minimise guns on the streets," said opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief. Mr Lacson suggested widespread corruption in the process of issuing permit to carry licences to individuals to allow them to keep their guns with them wherever they go. Crooked police officers of the Firearms and Explosives Unit that takes care of civilian guns rake in 10,000 pesos (US$185) a pop to enable applicants to bypass the process, he said.

The ease of acquiring guns even without registering them helped spawn a kidnapping industry in the Philippines. Even though kidnapping is punishable by death, citizens' group monitors estimate at least 100 abductions every year, with many of the victims being scions of Chinese-Filipino traders. Relatives only rarely report to the police for fear of jeopardising the lives of the captives or other members of the family, preferring to negotiate the ransom quietly with the gunmen. Manila police chief Reynaldo Velasco said that officially there were only 15 reported kidnappings in the capital in 2002, compared to 39 in 2001 yet in the last quarter of 2002 the newspapers reported at least 47 kidnappings.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina, the cabinet secretary who oversees the police forces, conceded that there was a need to reduce the volume of firearms in the country. Unlicensed guns were suspected to be involved in about 85% of all gun-related crimes in the Philippines. Reynaldo Pacheco, head of the advocacy group Gunless Society of the Philippines, observed: "Not a day passes without a gun-related incident being reported in the media. One cannot completely eliminate gun violence, but the Arroyo campaign can help reduce them."

An independent national survey commissioned by the Gunless Society several years before found that contrary to conventional thinking, the majority of Filipinos favoured gun control policies. Mr Pacheco praised the campaign as a decisive action in getting guns off the streets, but said Mrs Arroyo should do more by attacking the social infrastructure that glorifies gun violence in mass media, including films and advertisements.

But gun clubs started putting up stiff opposition. Manny Molina, an official of the 14,000-member advocacy group Peaceful, Responsible Owners of Guns, said the organisation is considering a legal challenge to the presidential orders.

"Many bodies will be falling. Many civilians will be killed because they can't defend themselves against criminals", he said. Opposition House of Representatives member Jack Enrile, concurrent chairman of the Practical Shooting Association of the Philippines, also called the measures ill-advised.

"None of us can really rely on the country's law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety and security of each and every individual citizen because most seem to be highly corrupted," Mr Enrile said.