EDITORIAL — Armed and dangerous

It’s the campaign period and an election gun ban is supposed to be in effect. Yet a civilian managed to bring in not just a handgun but also a grenade to a courtroom where he attended a hearing on a land dispute. Former movie stuntman Almario Villegas was shot dead yesterday by police snipers, about 24 hours after he fired his gun and grabbed hostages in a courtroom of the Taguig City Hall of Justice.

Villegas’ girlfriend Delia de la Cruz is a respondent in a land dispute. Reports said that during a preliminary hearing at the Taguig Regional Trial Court the other day, the plaintiff, Gina Ramos, rejected De la Cruz’s request to reset the proceedings. Villegas then drew out his gun, fired several shots and held hostage Ramos, her lawyer and two court stenographers.

Video footage and photographs of Villegas showed him with a gun in one hand and a grenade in the other. As cops stormed the building and fired away, the critically wounded Villegas dropped the grenade, which exploded and tore out part of his face. Luckily, the building had been emptied at the start of the incident and the hostages were not wounded in the explosion.

Next time, people doing business at the hall of justice may not be as lucky. If security at the hall of justice remains the same, there is bound to be a repeat of the hostage incident. The hall of justice has private security guards. How did Villegas manage to enter a courtroom with his weapons? And where did he get the grenade?

Then again, the weaponry is not surprising. Philippine gun laws are among the toughest in the world, and enforcement is supposed to be toughest during elections periods. Yet politicians and even entertainers, together with their relatives and bodyguards, pack guns during campaign periods without fear of being apprehended. The courtroom drama in Taguig is just another example of the weakness in the enforcement of gun laws.