By Zaldy De Layola
MANILA – Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, together with Akbayan Party-list Reps. Percival Cendaña and Dadah Ismula, and Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, have filed a resolution at the House of Representatives calling for a nationwide review of the government’s systems for the custody, safekeeping, and accountability of privately owned and government-issued firearms.
House Resolution 1468, filed Tuesday, urges a comprehensive and impartial audit, accounting, and physical inspection of all firearms issued to, owned, or possessed by public officials and employees amid three school shootings in the past three months involving firearms linked to government personnel.
The resolution cited three recent school shooting incidents in Tacloban City, Zamboanga City, and Banga, South Cotabato.
In Tacloban and Zamboanga, the firearms used were issued to a police staff sergeant and a Bureau of Customs employee, respectively. In Banga, South Cotabato, the firearm used was privately owned by a Department of Education employee.
“Kailangan nang kumilos ang ating pamahalaan upang mapigilan ang ganitong mga insidente. Hindi sapat na may tala tayo kung kanino nakatalaga ang mga baril. Kailangang matiyak na ang bawat baril ay maayos na iniingatan, nababantayan, at hindi na-a-access ng mga hindi awtorisadong tao (The government already needs to act in order to prevent incidents like these. It’s not enough that we have a list of who the guns are assigned to. There must be assurance that each firearm is being properly taken care of, monitored, and must not be accessed by unauthorized persons),” Diokno said in a news release Wednesday.
“Mas nakababahala dahil mga menor de edad ang nakakuha ng access sa mga baril at nagamit ang mga ito upang manakit at pumatay sa loob ng paaralan (It’s more disturbing because minors were able to access the guns and were used to harm and kill inside the school).”
The resolution tasks the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office (PNP-FEO), which serves as the repository and regulatory body for all firearm records in the Philippines, to conduct a comprehensive safety audit and physical accounting of firearms issued to, owned, or possessed by public officials and employees.
The resolution also calls for the PNP-FEO to establish a uniform framework for conducting the safety audit to verify the records, physical possession, authorization, condition, and safekeeping of all firearms issued to, owned, or possessed by public officials and employees.
Based on the audit findings, the resolution calls for a review of existing implementing rules and regulations and the adoption of appropriate administrative and legal measures against firearms found to be lost, missing, unaccounted for, improperly secured, or otherwise held in violation of existing laws, regulations, and agency policies.
The resolution further proposes that the audit results be submitted to the House, including identified discrepancies and deficiencies, as well as the corrective measures undertaken by concerned agencies.
“Accountability must not end with recording who was issued a firearm. We must also account for how it is stored, how it is secured, and how it is kept out of the hands of unauthorized persons. A comprehensive audit is a necessary first step toward closing these gaps and preventing more tragedies,” Diokno said.