The Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP) submitted last week a position paper to the House committee on public order and safety which is deliberating a measure pertaining to stiffer penalties for crimes related to firearms, light weapons and ammunition.
The AKP, which is antigun, submitted Petition 001 which is allowed under Republic Act No. 6735 that lets accredited parties directly submit proposals for bills.
“We respectfully call on the committee to adhere to the pertinent provision of the law by giving priority to Petition 001, by conducting hearings or inquiries on issues and concerns, and submitting a report on the petition to the House,” said AKP secretary general Norman Cabrera.
Petition 001, the first ever filed under RA 6735, seeks to bring down gun-related crimes, assist the Philippine National Police and empower communities in peacekeeping, keep in jail gun-toting criminals and insurgents, end the reign of private armies, and stop the proliferation of illegal firearms.
It assails provisions in the bill pending in the committee, which would grant individuals a permit to carry firearms outside their residence and license to possess from two up to more than 15 firearms.
“These provisions alone of the substitute bill should elicit disgust, dismay at the kind of country we could be promoting. Is this what we wish to have for ourselves, that we can bequeath to our children and our children’s children,” Cabrera said.