By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE continued incidents of kidnapping following the murders of car dealers and a broadcaster have once again revived proposals to ease regulations on permit to carry guns.
Two security experts however say that guns do not guarantee safety. Guns also do not reduce one’s vulnerability to crime.
Ace Esmeralda, president and managing director of Ace and Associates Risk Management, Inc., and editor- in- chief of SecurityMatters said: “Carrying a gun will not help much in preventing a crime.”
Esmeralda pointed out that in the Philippines, firearms carried by civilians should be concealed when in public places. “How will it deter criminals then?” he asked.
“Do not overvalue a gun,” Lars Findorff, a German police security expert, advised. “Do not let a gun make decisions for you.”
Findorff was in the country recently to give security orientation to human rights defenders and journalists, organized by the European Union-Philippine Justice Support Programme.
The renewed interest in guns resurfaced after last month’s two high-profile cases of kidnapping and murder of two car dealers and the killing of broadcaster Gerry Ortega in Palawan.
Car dealers Emerson Lozano, the son of lawyer Oliver Lozano, and Verson Evangelista were kidnapped in separate incidents last month. Lozano’s body as well as that of his driver, Ernani Sencil, were found in Pampanga four days after the abduction. Evangelista’s charred body was found in a canal in Cabanatuan City.
Police have arrested brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez for the Lozano-Evangelista-Sencil murders.
Ortega, a hard hitting broadcaster in Palawan, was shot dead while shopping in an “ukay-ukay” (used clothes) in Puerto Princesa City. A former provincial administrator has been tagged as one of those behind the killing.
Considering these recent murders, Esmeralda posed the following questions: “Could the crimes have been prevented if both parties had guns? Would those victimized car dealers shoot at their ‘buyers’ ahead of the intent to carjack? Would an armed car dealer be able to draw his concealed gun while showing off the car?”
Esmeralda also looked at the situation from the business point of view by asking, “Would you like to transact business with a car dealer with a concealed gun?”
He added: “Not all gun owners know how to carry or use their guns. Not all who know how to use or fire or shoot their guns are willing to shoot or kill another human being.”
In the Philippines, it’s not difficult for a private citizen to own a licensed gun. What is more difficult is to get a permit to carry a gun outside the home.
The rules and regulations of Presidential Decree 1866, or the basic firearms law, state that those who are allowed to carry guns outside their residence “whenever they are on duty” include guards of the National Bureau of Prisons, Provincial and City Jails; members of the Bureau of Customs Police, Philippine Ports Authority Security Force, and Export Processing Zones Authority Police Force; and guards of private security agencies, company guard forces and government guard forces.
A study conducted by Ateneo de Manila University professor Jennifer Santiago Oreta cited data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) which showed that as of first semester of 2008, there were 1,081,074 licensed firearms in the country. Half (517,341) are in the National Capital Region or NCR.
Oreta also said two out of every three (69.85%) legal arms currently in circulation in the Philippines are in civilian or private hands.
Findorff said although there is no perfect security to a determined attacker, there are ways to make one’s self less vulnerable to criminal elements. One of them is to vary one’s route or schedule in going to work. “Unpredictability is one of the best weapons for defense,” he said.
He recognized though that this is hard because as a human being you follow established patterns.
Esmeralda said the most effective deterrent to crime is an environment where “people know crimes do not pay, crimes can be solved by police even without an eyewitness, and that we can put criminals in jail.”
That is more potent than a thousand guns.