Friday, November 24, 2006 Guntoting outside home without permit a crime
GUN owners, firearm licenses not withstanding, can be held liable if they bring their guns out of their homes without any transport or carry permits from the PNP.
The policy is set in the implementing rules and regulations of both Presidential Decree 1866 and Republic Act 8294.
A transport permit is issued by the PNP to members of gun clubs for practice and sport competition. The same document is issued to representatives of gun stores for the transport of firearms from the store to the home of their clients.
A carry permit, meanwhile, is given to licensed gun owners who apply for one because of threats to their lives.
Without these, a person is deemed unlawfully in possession of a firearm and may face jail time.
But there are exemptions.
Certain individuals maybe authorized to possess and carry firearms through special documents called mission orders issued by law enforcement agencies such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Bureau of Investigation or any regional or provincial police unit.
The policy was set in an April 1984 amendment to the implementing rules and regulations of PD 1866.
The validity of the order is generally limited to the area of responsibility of the issuing agency.
The policy was reiterated in a November 1993 amendment to the same decree.
A mission order is a “written directive or order issued by competent authority...to persons who are under his supervision and control for a definite purpose or objective during a specified period and to such place or places as therein mentioned.”
It cannot be used indiscriminately though.
Section 6, subparagraph a-1 of the 1984 amendment states that the order is valid only if used in a “specific law enforcement/police/intelligence project.”
Two radio block-timers who turned out to be under the payroll of Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano were earlier arrested for illegal possession of firearms after getting reported as bearing guns while stopping a truck ferrying a load of commercial rice somewhere in Mandaue City.
The complainant, identified only as one Noreen, accused Roberto Juanico and Ruperto Navasca of trying to extort money from her in exchange for the release of the shipment but failed to show up at the police station to substantiate her claim, as required by the rule on probable cause.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed illegal possession of firearm charges against the two but it got dismissed.
In resolving to drop the charges, Assistant Mandaue City Prosecutor Bienvenido Mabanto noted that not only were the guns licensed, the two also presented mission orders from the PNP Maritime Group, based in Mandaue City.
The mission orders were, among others, for smuggling. (KNR)
