Police looking into .5M illegal firearms ahead of 2013 polls

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities are looking into over half a million illegal firearms, mostly with unrenewed licenses, which can possibly be used in committing politically-motivated crimes.

Citing a record from the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives Office, Roxas said in a press conference Friday that there were about 25,065 loose firearms nationwide, and another 552,338, composed of short guns, which have expired licenses.

Roxas said owners of units with expired authorizations would be visited in their registered home addresses to inform them of the status of their gun licenses, and also to temporarily confiscate their units until corresponding papers have been updated.

“Matindi ang parusa sa illegal possession of firearms kaya nananwagan kami na kung maaari, i-update ninyo ang pag lisensya ng mga baril,” he said, but added that automatic firearms would be prioritized because these “created the biggest risk.”

“We are two and a half months earlier in our preparations. We did not wait for the campaign period to start,” he said, pertaining to PNP’s security plan for the upcoming midterm elections tagged “Secure and Fair Elections for 2013,” or SAFE, headed by Deputy Director General Alan Purisima.

Roxas also said that another factor which may affect the conduct of elections was the presence of crime groups which were commonly being tapped by crooked politicians to ensure their victory in the upcoming elections.

In Region X, Roxas said Dragon Francisco and the Alvarez gangs were among those being used as private armies to harass and intimidate voters.