Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

April 8, 2013

Maria Lourdes Sereno, Chief Justice
Office of the Chief Justice of the Philippines
Supreme Court of the Philippines
Padre Faura Street, Ermita, 1000 Manila

Dear Ma’am Maria Lourdes Sereno,

I am writing to you regarding the issue of whether the implementation of gun ban must be continued on even after the period of elections. The Philippines today is currently imposing a 150-day election gun ban also called as the Commission on Elections Resolution 9561 which states that “no person shall bear, carry, or transport firearms or other deadly weapons in public places,” and that “no candidate for public office, including incumbent public officers seeking election to any public office, shall employ, avail himself of, or engage the services of security personnel or bodyguards.” This year’s election gun ban started last 13th of January, which marks the beginning of the election period and is going to end on the 12th of June. The ban is being enforced by army-backed police contingents in 800 towns in 15 hot spot provinces where violence is usually expected given the intense rivalries of candidates. It has also activated at least 1,634 election checkpoints across the country to prevent further electoral violence.

Furthermore, this election gun ban probably was made because of the rising number of people we can see being attacked, killed or injured every time the country gears towards the time of elections. As for me, I think that the Commission on elections (Comelec), or maybe the government in particular must consider the calling for a total gun ban in the country, even after the season of elections. It is because of the recent high profile cases of gun related crimes which made headlines that have happened not only at the time where the election is nearing, but at on any particular time of the year.

As what the Philippine National Police have observed in the statistics they have made, the trend seem to be that gun-related crimes drops significantly whenever there is an election gun ban being inflicted. In 2010, when an electoral gun ban was strictly imposed, the crime rate incidence fell by nearly 70 percent during the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2009. This year’s election gun ban, in particular is to be anticipated to perform better in statistics. So if that happens, we can infer that the success of the election gun ban can merit the enforcement of a year round total gun ban.

Banning the use of guns all throughout during the election period by a law is one means of preventing violence and other heinous things done. But as I have said earlier, violence is not only present during the time of elections; it is present for the rest of the year.  With that, I suggest imposing a gun ban all year round because it can imply preventing and if not preventing, deterring the number of crimes done and violence throughout the year. With a total gun ban, there would be a decrease in shootings and other gun-related crimes and it would probably secure the safety of the public people.  I believed that a total gun ban must be furthered tackled on in the congress and must be immediately passed on as a law because of the said positive long term effects it can possibly make in our country.

Respectfully yours,

Micah Angela C. Magpali