Why can’t there be peace, machos in Mindanao like to joke? Because, more than their wives, they love and will never give up their firearms. Military and police generals who have been stationed long enough in the region’s wildest locales know otherwise. Gun control can tame Mindanao. It would take a combination of strong will and demonstrable justice.
The gun ban that accompanies martial law is a good start. Authorities must enforce it with no fear or favor. The National Police has cancelled all permits to carry firearms outside residences (PTCFORs). The Armed Forces, National Bureau of Investigation, and other agencies also must scrap firearms mission orders (MOs) issued to non-organic personnel. Thence, no political kingpin or bodyguard or ordinary citizen may display firepower, licenses notwithstanding. Only uniformed servicemen and duly authorized undercover agents may carry weapons. Any violator could be deemed a common criminal or terrorist.
Martial law would have to end somehow. At which point a tough President can direct the governors and mayors to enforce an ensuing gun control. They have no choice but to comply; the President can kick them out through the Dept. of Interior and Local Governments.
The gun control would entail the proper registration of all firearms – long or short, modern or antique, working or not. The new law allows even more than 15 rifles and pistols per “collector,” but only up to certain calibers. Firearms and parts prohibited from civilians, say, .50-caliber machineguns, must be surrendered.
“Rido” or clan wars must be stopped. These usually arise from land and political disputes. The courts must show fairness, for judgments to be acceptable instead of the litigants taking the law into their own hands. Again a tough President would be able to convince warring clans that they would get equal treatment under the law if they follow it, or else face the wrath of the Armed Forces. Confidence must be built among the clans that foes cannot pull fast ones on them because the Commander-in-Chief is watching. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was reported in the early 2000s to have witnessed a convoy of the ruling Ampatuans of Maguindanao cruising around his Davao City. It was escorted by private army men on a jeep mounted with a machinegun. He ordered them to clear out, and they did. The Ampatuans would later be indicted for the 2009 massacre of 58 journalists and enemy clanswomen.
Speaking of which, the womenfolk can be mobilized to end clan wars. It has been tried in Lanao, where wives refused to have sex until the husbands stopped fighting. That amply demonstrated to the machos that it’s lonely sleeping only with the rifle.
Corollary could be incentives for warriors to turn in their firearms, say, in exchange for subsidized homes and education. That way, no other than the wives and children would pressure them to come home and roost for a change.
In the end the authorities must plug the smuggling points of gunrunners. Too, crooked soldiers and policemen must be stopped from trafficking in government weapons. It is no secret that buying from scalawags is how terrorist groups are able to build up arsenals.
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CORRECTION: There was a mistake in my report last Wednesday on “Yet Another Proof of LP Hand in MRT-3.” I misstated that Atty. Charles Mercado of Busan Universal Rail Inc. had admitted in the Senate hearing to knowing one Wilfredo “Bong” dela Cruz; he hadn’t. When Sen. Grace Poe confronted him with a demand letter from a train parts maker addressed to him and dela Cruz, Mercado explained that thousands of people commission from BURI suppliers. After some exchanges they momentarily digressed from the issue, as Poe scolded Mercado for impoliteness. Then she instructed him to formalize his explanations in writing; end of exchange. My apologies.
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