Robredo wants civilian agents’ gun permits in Zamboanga, Basilan revoked

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo has asked the police and the military to cancel all memorandum receipts  and mission orders—two kinds of permits to carry firearms—issued to civilian agents here and in neighboring Basilan in an effort to curb criminality.

Robredo told reporters on Tuesday that the cancellation of the permits, including those given to certain local government officials,  would also reinforce the declaration of a gun ban in the city and on the island-province of Basilan in the wake of a wave of violence in these two places.

“It is important to maintain peace and order. Aside from the gun ban, MOs and MRs would also be canceled. We have already asked the police and the military to do this,” he said.

Robredo said he did not know how many MRs and MOs had been issued to civilian agents—”assets” in military and police parlance—but there could be hundreds of them.

He said civilian agents were not only the ones  issued MRs and MOs but also local government officials.

Robredo said the cancellation would also help the police and the military to restrict the movement of persons who have forged MRs and MOs.

“Because legitimate ones had been canceled, it would be easy for the police and the military to arrest those having fake documents,” he said.

Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, Zamboanga City police director, said the gun ban was easier to implement because the cancellation of MOs and MRs required coordination with the police and military intelligence officials.

“The R2 (Intelligence) knows them but their files are secret. We cannot just dip our fingers on it,” De Ocampo said.

Col. Jose Johriel Cenabre, deputy commander for Marines Operations of the Naval Forces in Western Mindanao, also made a similar statement.

De Ocampo said Robredo might have to coordinate with the Defense Department for the cancellation of MOs and MRs to military agents.