MANILA, Philippines - Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief-of-Staff Gen. Victor ibrado said on Wednesday that starting January 10,  the military will help dismantle private armed groups in the country being used as private armies by politicians during elections. 

He said there were 132 earlier identified as the number of private armed groups in the country, but this number was cut down by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to more than 90 groups. 

Ibrado said that the military will help the PNP disband and dismantle these groups during the elections to avoid violence.
 
On the investigation into the arms cache recovered from the Ampatuan clan, Gen. Ibrado said that more than 5 soldiers are now being investigated. 

He said that out of the more than 1,000 firearms recovered from the Ampatuans, 32 came from the AFP and some serial numbers had been tampered. 

Out of the more than 1 million ammunition recovered from the Ampatuans, 9% came from government arsenal, and out of the 9%,  70% came from government-accredited manufacturers. 

The AFP chief said he will look into the systems of the logistics command to determine how some of the firearms ended up with the Ampatuans.

Arroyo wants gun control law

Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants Congress to pass a gun control law that would impose stiffer penalties for crimes related to firearms and light weapons.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said gun control was one of the urgent measures the president would like to pass as soon as possible.

Ermita also denied reports that President Arroyo instructed Congress to convene a special session to tackle charter change.

Aside from gun control, the other urgent measures of the Palace are:

• LPG Bill - to establish the regulatory and supervisory framework for the LPG industry;
• Disaster risk reduction and management - to institutionalize an integrated and coordinated management policy that focuses on preventing and reducing the risk of disaster;
• Infant and young child feeding - to promote breastfeeding to improve the health of children and protecting the rights of nursing mothers;
• Gun control - seeks to impose stiffer penalties for crimes related to firearms and light weapons;
• Rationalization of fiscal incentives;
• Simplified net income taxation for individuals engaged in trade/business and/or practice of profession;
• Philippine Maritime Act - to create the National Maritime Authority, which shall be the sole authority that will regulate the country's maritime industry;
• Amnesty proclamation to rebel returnees.

However, none of these laws are expected to be passed since Congress has only around two weeks of session left before it adjourns for the 2010 election campaign.

Congress will resume session on January 18 and will adjourn on February 5 to give way for the official campaign period, which starts February 9 for those seeking national posts and party-list seats. -- reports from Jay Ruiz, Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News