Gun ban in Bacolod starts Sunday

SENIOR Superintendent Milko Lirazan, Negros Occidental Police Provincial director, reminded all Negrenses on Friday on the start of the election period and the gun ban starting Sunday, January 13.

Lirazan said he already instructed chiefs of police all over the province about the guidelines on the gun ban and the setting up of check points in line with its implementation.

The policemen were also reminded that their permits to carry their firearms outside of their residences will be suspended beginning January 13 until June 12 under the orders of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the coming May 13 polls.

The Comelec issued Resolution 9561-A, promulgated last December 4, 2012, which specifies rules for the gun ban. New licenses and the firearm itself will not be released to the owner and will instead be kept at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosive Office and Civil Security Group, under such rules.

The implementation of the gun ban will be supervised by the Comelec Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) headed by Commissioner Elias R. Yusoph and composed of a senior officer designated by the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The CBFSP will be assisted by a secretariat composed of representatives from the Comelec, the AFP and the PNP, and headed by a senior lawyer of the Comelec law department.

The Comelec earlier exempted agents of 33 government offices from the gun ban in the list of those authorized to carry firearms during the May 13 elections.

Aside from the PNP, AFP and NBI, the commission also exempted agents of the Bureau of Corrections, Department of Justice and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Also exempted are agents of the Bureau of Customs' intelligence and investigation and enforcement and security services, port police department of the Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine Economic Zone Authority police forces, government guard forces regulated by the PNP, and the law and investigation division and intelligence division of the Bureau of Immigration.

Further, Comelec Resolution 9385 provides that bearing, carrying and transporting firearms and other deadly weapons are prohibited, unless authorized in writing by the Comelec.