Comelec may hold PASG liable for gun ban violation

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is studying whether to hold the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) liable for including private individuals and high-profile personalities in the list of agents it wants exempted from the gun ban.

In a telephone interview, Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said concerned PASG officials could have committed an election offense since they violated Comelec Resolution 8742 containing the implementing guidelines for the total gun ban now being implemented in connection with the May 10 polls.

“We’ll be studying the other possible violations committed by PASG. PASG is composed of personnel from other law enforcement units. We found out that there are people in the list who are not members of any of these agencies,” said Tagle, who chairs the committee on the ban of firearms and security personnel.

An election offense is punishable with up to six years imprisonment, disqualification from public office and suspension of the rights to vote.

The PASG is among the agencies whose personnel authorized by the Comelec to carry firearms provided that they are in proper uniform and on duty.

But the Comelec had received a complaint from some residents of Alicia town in Isabela province that armed men claiming to be PASG agents have been roaming the area.

When the Comelec reviewed the names of agents submitted by PASG chief Antonio Villar for gun ban exemption, it discovered that some of them were private individuals like veteran broadcaster Jose “Joe” Taruc and businessmen Gregorio Araneta III and Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

Because of this, the Comelec had suspended the gun ban exemption of PASG. Starting tomorrow, any PASG agent caught carrying a gun outside their residence will be arrested by the police.

According to Tagle, Villar had submitted a new list Friday morning but the poll body still found some private individuals included in it.