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Thursday, February 19, 2004
Bill seeks death for peddlers of guns to ‘enemies of state’
By Elias O. Baquero
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
SELLING weapons and ammunition to the enemies of the state will be punishable by death, if the bill filed by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon will be passed into law.
Biazon made a stopover yesterday in Cebu from Mindanao and was the guest of Luigi Quisumbing, a candidate for Provincial Board member in the 6th district.
He is running for reelection.
Biazon said selling firearms to the rebels is “the highest form of treason” because it will kill the comrades of the soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“If my bill to this effect will be passed into law, I want violators to be punished by
firing squad,” said Biazon, a former soldier and AFP chief of staff.
Biazon filed the bill after receiving reports that some soldiers sold government-issued firearms to rebels of the New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Abu Sayyaf bandits.
Defense secretary
Meanwhile, Biazon said he has another pending bill banning the appointment of a military general as secretary of the Department of National Defense for at least one year from retirement.
He said the appointment of a military general as defense secretary immediately after retirement has “politicized” the AFP.
In another bill Biazon proposed, the AFP chief of staff shall be allowed to serve three
years provided he does not reach the mandatory retirement age.
Biazon noted that some chiefs of staff only served two months or three months and failed to institute reforms because their stint is too short.
“In the United States, the military chief of staff has a four-year term. I only propose three years because I think this period is enough for the chief of staff to make reforms,” Biazon said.
Cooperatives
Aside from military reforms, Biazon said he has also pending bills to support farmers’ cooperatives.
“There is migration of farmers from the rural areas to the cities. Why? Because they lost hope in the farms,” Biazon said.
Biazon proposed that the government must install safety nets for farmers’ cooperatives by putting up the Capital Development Fund.
His bill proposed a P10 billion fund, P5 billion of which will be taken from congress and the other P5 billion from Land Bank.
“This will be lent to the farmers as their cheap capital with only six to seven percent interest rate, or half of the prevailing bank rate,” Biazon said.
(February 19, 2004 issue)
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