Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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Confiscation of Guns The PNP in the ARMM reported that it seized a total of 172 high powered and low powered firearms during the election period (January 10 to June 8) in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the mainland provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. A hundred of these firearms were confiscated in Maguindanao, 24 in Basilan, 19 in Lanao del Sur, 16 in Sulu and 13 in Tawi-Tawi. Out of the 100 confiscated guns in Maguindanao, 43 were high-powered and 57 low-powered. The ARMM-PNP also seized “other deadly weapons,” which Maguindanao topped again:
That Maguindanao topped the list of guns and other deadly weapons seized is cause for alarm. State of Emergency (SOE) in Maguindanao On July 30, 2010, a month after the Aquino administration took over, then Armed Forces chief of staff Lt Gen. Ricardo David told reporters at the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City that they were recommending to the President and the local officials in the affected areas the lifting of the state of emergency. The SOE has not been lifted since. “The decision is on the President and the LGU, but we are ready to lift it,” David said in a press briefing. The recommendation was based on their assessment that governance in the province is now “normal.” David stressed that there will be no pull out of troops in the area and that security operations such as routine patrol and checkpoints will go on. The curfew, however, will no longer be enforced should the state of emergency be lifted. Mangudadatu, who won the election in May 2010, said he would convene the Provincial Peace and Order Council. In August, the PPOC proposed the extension of the SOE, claiming the peace and order situation improved because of it. Mangudadatu said they do not want a repeat of the pre-massacre days where there was proliferation of firearms and the province teemed with armed civilians. “Ayaw naming na kung sino-sino lang magdala ng firearms at ayaw naming na ang mga PAGS (private armed groups) mahayaan lang” (We do not want just anyone to be carrying firearms and we do not want to tolerate the private armed groups), he said. Mangudadatu said the state of emergency remains “to prevent and preempt those people who are fond of bringing firearms.” The digital news site MindaNews, captured other aspects of life in articles on Maguindanao. NGOs have sprouted in the soil of the province. The Alliance of Lumad Iranun and Maguindanaons (ALIM) called for debate among the candidates of the province. The daughter of a journalist killed in the Ampatuan massacre wrote a brief commentary about the obligation to vote and the need to think of the future. “Think a hundred times before you vote.” Wrote Ma. Reynafe Momay-Castillo, daughter of the late Reynaldo Momay, a photographer of Midland Courier in Tacurong City. While based in the US where she works as a nurse, she sent her message to MindaNews as a reminder for Filipino voters. |
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