Comelec to consider gun ban during ARMM voters' listup

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will consider imposing a total ban on the carrying of firearms during the registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) starting next month.

Former congressman and now acting ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman told reporters yesterday that Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes had informed him that he would include the proposed gun ban in the agenda for the commission’s next meeting.

Hataman has written Brillantes to propose the gun ban.

“The forthcoming general registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in July is one step to clean and honest elections. Nevertheless, peace and security must be given due consideration to ensure that the registrants would be free from harassment and fear of violence,” he said in his letter.

“In this connection, the undersigned, on behalf of the people of ARMM, earnestly prays that a total gun ban for the entire duration of the registration be declared by the good commission,” he said.

The Comelec has invalidated voting records in the autonomous Muslim region because they contained an estimated 200,000 “ghost” voters.

The region, composed of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, is traditionally an area for election cheating.

Mindanao lawmakers have supported Hataman’s gun ban proposal.

Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong said a Comelec-imposed prohibition against the carrying of firearms would definitely encourage more voters to come out and register.

He said a total ban on the carrying of firearms would prevent armed groups from roaming and intimidating and harassing registrants.

“I think more people will go to the precinct to register if they don’t see armed men around,” he said.

He added that a gun ban would ensure a peaceful registration of voters.

Datumanong, a former justice secretary, said a total firearms ban would also make it easier for Comelec-deputized police and military personnel to enforce poll registration rules and arrest people illegally carrying guns.

Rep. Carol Jane Lopez of the party-list group Youth Against Corruption and Poverty, who comes from South Cotabato, said the Comelec should adopt Hataman’s proposal “in the interest of orderly and peaceful listing of voters.”

“We have seen in the past how lawless elements disrupted electoral exercises in the ARMM region. It’s about time the Comelec resort to drastic measures to protect registrants and voters, and the process as well,” she said.

She said if the proposed gun ban succeeds, the Comelec should consider an extended prohibition against the carrying of firearms in the run-up to and during the combined ARMM-congressional-local elections in May 2013.

Earlier, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, headed by former ambassador Henrietta de Villa, supported Hataman’s proposed gun ban.