Ping wants death for gov’t men assisting firearms smugglers

Sen. Panfilo Lacson wants the death penalty for government officials and employees who are convicted of helping syndicates smuggle firearms into the country.

In filing the Anti-Smuggling Bill of 2001, Lacson said the lack of a law punishing firearms smuggling has emboldened gunrunners into taking advantage of the country’s long coastline to sneak in guns for secessionists in Mindanao and the various criminal groups nationwide.

"In our country, the firearms used by the Abu Sayyaf are believed to have been smuggled into the Philippines via the southern backdoor," he said.

Lacson said the Anti-Smuggling Bill seeks to impose the penalty of reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in jail, to death and a fine of P5 million on any government official or employee who helps process, issue or dispose of any document necessary to speed up the smuggling of firearms into the country.

"The same penalty shall be imposed when a government official or employee connives with a syndicate in the commission of the crime," he said.

Lacson said government officials and employees convicted of firearms smuggling shall also be dismissed from the service and perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

"Firearms smuggling is one of the trans-national organized crimes that affect not only the Philippines and other neighboring Asian countries but also the rest of the world," he said.

"In the international arena, firearms smuggling has affected the security, safety and the peace and order situation of countries where the same are being brought into," he added.

The bill also proposes firearms smugglers be jailed for not less than 20 years and fined between P1 million and P5 million.

"Firearms smuggling is a dangerous but profitable criminal enterprise," read an excerpt from the preface to the Anti-smuggling Bill of 2001.

"It not only threatens public safety and national security but also endangers and oftentimes takes away the lives even of innocent persons. The possession of smuggled firearms more often than not emboldens the person... to the commission of more serious offenses such as...murder, homicide, rebellion piracy, kidnapping and armed robbery."

Once the bill becomes law, a syndicate member shall be sentenced to death after being convicted of firearms smuggling, or illegally dealing or manufacturing firearms, ammunition or explosives.

The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who procures, processes, sells, or obtains by fraudulent means any document for importation and exportation into and from the Philippines.

Specifically, they are identified as the pilot, master, agent, owner, consignee, or any person in charge of a vessel or aircraft, who knowingly and intentionally carries smuggled firearms, ammunition or explosives when departing from or entering the Philippines.