Comelec shelves PASG gun ban exemption

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) suspended the gun ban exemption granted to Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group agents following an investigation that showed some private individuals and high-profile personalities were using PASG to get the same exemption.

The Comelec order, issued Jan. 11, will take effect Monday and would enable police officers to arrest any PASG agent who still carries a gun outside their residence.

In his decision, Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, chairman of the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel, said the committee found that the names of agents submitted by PASG chief Antonio Villar to the Comelec for gun ban exemptions included the names of private individuals such as Jose Taruc, Gregorio Araneta III and Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

Under the law, Tagle said PASG should be composed of personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coast Guard, National Food Authority, Philippine Maritime Authority, Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine Navy, and Bureau of Customs as well as from other government agencies.

“Pending investigation, the (committee) hereby suspends the authority issued to PASG effective March 8 to bear, carry, and transport their firearms outside their residence during election period,” which lasts from Jan. 10 to June 9, without prior written authority from the committee, he said.

Tagle ordered the PASG to submit to the Comelec certified true copies of the appointment of their personnel, which agencies they came from, and payroll lists from December 2009 to January 2010.

The Comelec order stemmed from a complaint of some residents of Alicia town in Isabela that men claiming to be PASG agents have been roaming the area armed with handguns and rifles, and policemen allowed them to pass through checkpoints.

“There are many unidentified men who were wearing PASG jackets and pins, but they are close in security of Mayor Napoleon Dy of Alicia town, Isabela, his wife Ana Cecilia Dy and son councilor Ian Paul Dy,” the Comelec order noted.

In a separate letter, Mayor Sergio Amora of Candijay town in Bohol asked the Comelec about the authority of 10 persons to carry firearms being agents of PASG.

Isabela residents named “PASG agents” as Carmelito Lopez Cagayan, president of the local League of Barangays and member of Sangguniang Bayan; Romeo Bulos Mariano, out on bail on homicide charges for the death of SPO3 Jonathan Buan; and Roderick Rubia, a barangay kagawad of San Antonio, Alicia.