Comelec exempts gov’t agencies from gun ban

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will give automatic gun ban exemption to government agencies in the 2013 midterm polls.

The poll body, however, said yesterday that those who would be armed must be in proper uniform and on duty.

Comelec Resolution 9561 showed that starting Dec. 3, the agency’s Committee on Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) will have the “sole power to issue authority to bear, carry or transport firearms, including its spare parts, explosives and its components, outside residence and place of business in the country.”

“Any permit-to-carry-firearms-outside-residence, letter order and acknowledgement receipts issued... are declared suspended, ineffective and without force and effect unless properly covered by certificates of authority duly issued by the CBFSP,” the Comelec said.

The Comelec noted that more government agencies would be allowed to carry firearms during the election period from Jan. 13 to June 12, 2013.

Exempted are authorized personnel from internal security from the Offices of the Vice President, Secretary of Interior and Local Government, and National Defense; State, Regional, Provincial, and City Prosecutors of the Department of Justice; Internal Security Division of the Bureau of Treasury, and agents of the Bureau of Corrections, Philippine National Police, and other law enforcement agencies.

Violators of the gun ban face imprisonment of up to six years without probation, disqualification from holding public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage.