Applicants are mostly kidnap victims, Chinese businessmen

MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not yet given exemptions to private individuals who want to be allowed to carry firearms during the ongoing gun ban period.

Private applicants for exemptions will be subject to threat assessments, Comelec Commissionner Elias Yusoph stressed.

The chief of the committee on the ban on firearms and security personnel said his office has received hundreds of applications for gun ban exemptions from the public, but they have only granted less than a 100.

Those granted exemptions are security agencies and senators. Congressmen and governors were only given security details.

Yusoph also confirmed that anti-crime advocate Teresita Ang See requested for an exemption, which is still being considered.

He said some of the private applicants are kidnap victims as well as Chinese businessmen.

The Comelec is also considering a request for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to be made escorts of some local executives in Mindanao. He said not all Mindanao-based security agencies can accommodate the requests of local executives in the area.

Yusoph clarified that even members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will have to apply for gun ban exemptions since the recently signed framework agreement does not cover it.

Yusoph reiterated his appeal to the public to follow the gun ban provisions.