President Rodrigo R. Duterte will implement a stricter regulation on owning and purchasing of firearms of the civilians in the country.
This was bared by the president during the 25th Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines (AFAD) Defense and Sporting Arms Show Davao at SMX Convention Center on Friday evening.
Duterte said that the loose regulation of owning a firearm and purchasing ammunition became the way of the enemies of the state to earn firepower in fighting back against the government’s soldiers.
“We have to revise some of the rules here, not to make it hard for you to make money but to protect first and foremost the Republic of the Philippines,” he said.
Duterte said he will create an office who handle the strict implementation of firearms possession in the country.
He said he will give the guidelines to the new Secretary of Interior and Local Government Gen. Eduardo Año to ensure that there will be no guns and ammunition will go to the rebels.
“The DILG Secretary by June will be Año. So, doon ko ibigay ang guidance sa kanya na (So, by then, I will give the guidelines on) how to check it out that no firearms would ever, ever land in the hands of an enemy of the state,” he said.
Duterte said gun store owners can still do business but the government just want to make sure that it does not fall into the hands of the enemies.
“Because it could then make it doubly hard for us instead of the maybe investing the life of one soldier in a fight, if you give them the firepower and the firearms, I would need about five soldiers to suppress one enemy. Mahirap ‘yan (That’s hard),” he said.
The president, however, said that there should be a reasonable ground in implementing the stricter regulation so that no one will lose their sales.
“So with that I congratulate you for this– Last buy na ito (this is your last buy), kay next month wala na, bawal na lahat pati ‘yung mga collection’ (because next month there will be no more, I will prohibit the purchase even the collector’s item gun),” he said.
The president advised the gun store owners to tell their clients to follow the proper procedure before they can purchase ammunition.
“I will no longer allow yung mga tindahan (gun stores) to sell bullets over the counter, that cannot be done… we’re just supplying ammunition to the enemy,” he said.
This because, Duterte said that “some of those ammunitions that are purchased are on the hands of the New People’s Army (NPA)”.
“If you want to take orders, advise your client or your clients that you have to work on the papers … make it early because it would be hard for you not to get the bullets,” Duterte said.
The president said that the rebels can really afford to buy bullets and guns because they earn money from their “extortion” activities.
‘Yung high-powered hindi na talaga dapat ipagbili ‘yan. No more. Ang security guard is there in the mountain shotgun, okay naman ‘yang shotgun (High-powered firearms shoud not be sold in the market. No more. The security guards in the mountain should on possess shotgun because it is still good),” he said.
Duterte explained that the security agencies purchase high-powered guns to give to their security guards in the mountain areas securing mining sites or plantations, however, these firearms are usually being stolen by the rebels in their raids.
“Kung nakawin ‘yan wala rin eh, kung malaman nila kung sino ‘yung maraming armas, eh tapos ire-raid nila (Once they will learn where the high-powered firearms, they will raid it and steal the guns )” Duterte said.
