Judges, fiscals exempt from poll gun ban

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) granted yesterday a request of the Supreme Court (SC) to exempt justices, judges and prosecutors from the election-related gun ban.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the legal experts would have to apply for exemption first.

“Finding the request to be meritorious, the commission resolves… to grant the request for exemption of applicant justices, judges, including prosecutors, from the prohibition to carry firearms outside of their residences during the election period,” he said.

Earlier, SC administrator Midas Marquez asked the Comelec to reconsider the inclusion of justices, judges and prosecutors in the gun ban being implemented in connection with Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.

The request was made after Vigan, Ilocos Sur Regional Trial Court Judge Reynaldo Lacasandile was killed early this month.

Jimenez said pending applications for exemption are considered granted and the Comelec will accept new applications.

SC lauds exemption

The SC lauded yesterday the decision of the Comelec to exempt justices, judges and prosecutors from the election gun ban.

“We hope this exemption would make our justices and judges more secure and it will deter lawless elements from attacking judges,” Marquez told reporters in an interview.

He said his office really pleaded for the gun ban exemption “because our judges have become very defenseless from attacks involving cases that are not exclusive to elections.”

Marquez thanked the Comelec, chaired by Jose Melo, a former SC justice, for reconsidering its decision and granting his appeal.

“Judges should be distinguished from other gun ban exemption applicants simply because they are charged with a different responsibility, and that is to decide significant life-altering, if not life and death, cases or property lawsuits involving large sums of money,” he said.

Records show that a total of eight judges have been murdered during the last few elections: Hassan Ibnohajil and Eduardo Geminiano in 2001; Paterno Tiamson, Voltaire Rosales and Milnar Lammawin in 2004; Nathaniel Pattugalan in 2007; Andres Cipriano last May and Lacansandile last Oct. 4.

Except for one, all the eight cases remain unsolved.

Since 1999, some 21 judges have been murdered. Only in two cases were the killers convicted; four are still being tried. The rest have yet to produce leads, according to Marquez.

The Philippine Judges Association and the National Prosecutor’s League of the Philippines (NPLP) also welcomed the gun ban exemption.

NPLP president Jonathan Lledo praised Comelec Commissioner Elias Yusoph, a former chief prosecutor of Marawi City, for fighting for the prosecutors’ inclusion in the exemption. – Sheila Crisostomo, Edu Punay