Jan 9, 2010
Policemen checking firearms seized from volunteers with ties to a clan blamed for the death of 57 civilians in poll-related violence last November. Manila has been under pressure to break up private armed groups in the run-up to the May 10 elections. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MANILA - THE Philippines will impose a five-month ban on carrying guns in public from Sunday to reduce election violence in the run-up to May's polls - a period when the country's political rivalries traditionally go on the boil.
The year got off to a bloody start, with several candidates running for local government posts being gunned down: Four of them were from the Nacionalista Party (NP), the country's oldest political party.
'Because they can't be beaten fair and square, they were beaten in a manner most foul,' the NP's presidential candidate, Mr Manuel Villar, told reporters.
Under the lockdown imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), all permits to carry firearms outside residences have been suspended.
The ban will affect owners of 1.2 million registered guns, and only members of the security forces and licensed security guards may carry firearms in public.
In a related development, President Gloria Arroyo last Wednesday appointed a retired Supreme Court judge to head an independent commission to recommend measures for dismantling private armed groups run by political families and local strongmen before the May 10 elections.
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