Central database pushed to boost crackdown vs illegal firearms
MANILA, Philippines — A joint report by the Office of the Special Envoy for Transnational Crime (OSETC), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and a nongovernment organization pushed for the creation of a central database to bolster authorities’ crackdown against illegal firearms.
The OSETC, the DFA and Nonviolence International Asia launched the report at an inter-agency meeting in Quezon City on Tuesday to discuss the country’s commitment to the Arms Trade Treaty, a 2013 United Nations (UN) agreement to regulate the imports and exports of firearms.
“There’s a lack of information and database. Sometimes, we receive reports from Mindanao that don’t reach the national level,” Nonviolence International Asia regional representative Fred Lubang said in Filipino during an interview on the sidelines of the inter-agency meeting.
“To address this, it is recommended that the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] initiate, in collaboration with the DND [Department of National Defense], a centralized system for logging and analyzing weapons surrendered or recovered through national and local efforts,” the joint report further recommended.
READ: PH inks treaty on arms trade regulation
The report also touted the country’s progress in implementing the Arms Trade Treaty.
“Right now, we in the Philippines are considered by neighboring countries for how we regulate firearms. They like the system of our government agencies,” Special Envoy for Transnational Crime Markus Lacanilao said in the interview.
He particularly attributed the regulation to the coordination of the Philippine National Police, the AFP, the Department of Trade and Industry Strategic Trade Management Office, the Philippine Coast Guard, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and other government units.
“That’s the importance of this, for each government agency to coordinate to help keep firearms and ammunition, from small arms to tanks, away from the wrong hand,” Lacanilao added in Filipino. /jpv
