LIST: Details of gun ban during election period

A nationwide gun ban will be implemented starting Sunday, January 12 as the election period for the May 2025 polls. 

Here are the details, provisions, and penalties of the gun ban under Commission on Election (Comelec) Resolution No. 11067 which will be implemented until June 11, 2025 which aims to lessen election-related violence:

• Prohibition of firearms and deadly weapons - under Section 261 (q) of the Omnibus Election Code, any person is prohibited from carrying firearms outside of their residence or place of business during the election period unless authorized by the Commission.

• Authorized personnel - During this period, only regular members or officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and other law enforcement agencies who are duly deputized by the Commission may carry firearms.

• Exemptions - The following officials are granted full exemption from the prohibition: President, Vice President, Senate President, Senators, House Speaker, Members of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Cabinet Secretaries, Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and other officials in the Executive Branch with equivalent rank as provided by the Office of the President, Justices of the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, and the Court of Tax Appeals, Judges of the Regional Trial Courts and Municipal/Metropolitan/Circuit Trial Courts and Shari’ah High/District/Circuit Courts, Chairperson and Members of the Judicial and Bar Council, Chairperson, Commissioners, Executive Director, Deputy Executive Directors, Directors, and Lawyers employed by and holding office in the Main Office of the Commission on Elections, Chiefs-of-Staff of the Offices of the Chairman and Commissioners, Regional Election Directors, Assistant Regional Election Directors, Provincial Election Supervisors, Regional Election Attorneys, Election Officers/Acting Election Officers, and Organic Security Officers of the Commission on Elections, Chairpersons and Commissioners of the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, and the Commission on Human Rights. 

The ban also exempts private individuals under certain circumstances such as cashiers and disbursing officers and persons carrying large sums of money or valuables. 

Provisions

• COMELEC checkpoints - Imposed to monitor compliance with the firearms ban and ensure public safety during the election period.

• Filing and submission of requirements of exemptions - Must be filed electronically starting November 18, 2024, and ending on May 28, 2025, which can be completed under the official COMELEC website.

• Reporting Requirements - An initial report for Certificates of Candidacy must be submitted two weeks after the end of the filing period. Subsequent reports will be required every two weeks after the initial submission and will become weekly upon the start of the election period.

Penalties

• Criminal Penalties - Any person found guilty of the following may be subjected to the following penalties. 

• Imprisonment: Any person found guilty of bearing or carrying firearms or other deadly weapons shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but not more than six (6) years. This penalty shall not be subject to probation.

Other penalties are disqualification from public office, deprivation of the right of suffrage. 

However, if the violator is a foreigner, they shall be sentenced to deportation, which will be enforced after the prison term has been served.

• Liability of Juridical Persons - The owner, president, manager, director, or other responsible officers of any public or private firm, company, corporation, or entity who willfully or knowingly allows any person to bear, carry, or transport any of the firearms owned by such firm shall be held liable. 

• Administrative Penalties - The Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Concerns (CBFSC) may deny applications for Certificates of Authority based on various grounds, including:

- Misrepresentation or false statements in the application or its attachments.

- Unauthorized insertions of unqualified individuals in the application.

- Submission of fictitious or tampered documentary requirements.

- Submission of revoked, canceled, suspended, or expired accreditations, certificates, licenses, permits, and registrations.

"Suppose the violation is deliberately done to mislead the CBFSC into granting the application. In that case, the applicant will also be subject to the administrative penalty of blocklisting, which means that the individual or entity will be disqualified from future applications for a specified period," Comelec noted. 

"Plain view doctrine"

Meanwhile, the poll body said the "plain view doctrine" will be observed. This means motorists need only to lower their windows and turn on the lights inside their vehicles when passing through the checkpoints. 

Members of the police and military may be likewise deployed to the checkpoints after the poll body requested law enforcement personnel, especially in locations declared as critical areas. 

—VAL, GMA Integrated