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Will Philippines Gun Ban Prevent Bloodshed?

13/01/10January 13, 2010

As the Philippines gears up for elections later this year, the government has imposed a gun ban. Almost 150 people died in poll-related violence in 2007. The police have been conducting random checks and raids against suspected private armed groups. On Wednesday, a suspected gunrunner was killed in a raid on his home just outside Manila.

https://p.dw.com/p/Ls7W
A policeman points to the site of the massacre in Maguindanao province last November
A policeman points to the site of the massacre in Maguindanao province last NovemberImage: AP

The gun ban is to remain in place until the end of the election campaign. Dozens of people were arrested within days of it being imposed. The idea is to avoid the bloodshed that has marred elections in the past. However, the fact that certain groups are exempt has been widely criticised by human rights activists.

Aurora Corazon Parong from Amnesty International in Manila is very worried. “The armed forces of the Philippines have what we call Citizen Armed Geographic Units (CAFGUs), which they train or which are under their command,” she explains.

“But the Philippine national police have also encouraged and have in fact formed paramilitary units like Civilian Volunteer Organisations (CVOs), because of executive order 546, which was issued by President Arroyo in 2006. For Amnesty International it is really a recipe for disaster.”

Private armies for local clans

Although these armed militias are officially under the command of the security forces and the police, in the provinces they function effectively as private armies for local family clans.

One of these such armies is accused of being behind last November’s massacre in the province of Maguindanao that left almost 60 people dead, including 30 journalists.

The provincial governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. has been implicated in the killings. His son, Ampatuan Jr, and several other family members are now behind bars. They deny all involvement.

The victims were mainly the family members and supporters of a rival political clan of the Ampatuans.

Ampatuan connected to President Arroyo

Steven Rood from the Asia Foundation in Manila says that the Ampatuan clan in Manguindanao were close allies of President Gloria Arroyo and the current administration.

“One of the bolstering factors for the Ampatuans over the years has been the fact that as Muslim rulers they are opposed to the Muslim separatist organisations. So, successive administrations -- this one and the previous ones -- have allied themselves with the local Ampatuan clan in order to help fight the Muslim separatists, currently the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”

“For the past decade, most of the incidents in Central Mindanao have been connected to the ongoing conflict between the MILF and the Ampatuan clan. The national government therefore sees them as one of their bulwarks in a counter-insurgency campaign.”

The elections are due to take place in May. 50 million people are eligible to vote in the polls to choose a president, vice-president and almost 300 lawmakers.

A new automated system is being tested for the first time -- voters will use special pens to shade blank dots instead of writing down the names of the candidates. Counting machines will automatically tally the votes.

Author: Bernd Musch-Borowska/Anne Thomas
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein