Gun-related road rage cases and the culture of violence in troubled areas, especially in Mindanao, will be used by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in asserting the need for the extension of firearms ban in the country, a top police official said.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, PNP chief, said the data on gun-related criminal incidents will be backed by statistics on the improvement of peace and order in the country at the span of the implementation of the nationwide gun ban since the start of the election period last January 10 when the second National Firearms Summit on Gun Control is held in Camp Crame next week.

“We will present the data that we have pertaining to the incidents of crime pertaining to the instances of violence that are caused by guns itself,” said Verzosa.

“We are also trying to come up with data on the simple altercation that led to shootout or to shooting in even the ordinary places, especially during traffic altercations,” he added.

Expected to be included in the data are the cases of Rolito Go who shot dead a fellow motorist over a petty traffic altercation in 1991 and Jason Ivler who allegedly gunned down a son of Undersecretary Renato Ebarle, Sr. last year.

Shootouts between warring political clans and the maintenance of partisan armed groups of some political warlords in Mindanao like the Ampatuans in Maguindanao are also expected to be used by the PNP.

The gun summit is expected to be held on June 2, with representatives from various sectors like the academe, firearms dealers, anti-gun advocates and even the media are expected to attend.

Debates on whether or not the gun ban implementation will be extended when the election period ends on June 9 is further heating up, with some sectors opposing the proposal while some are proposing selective gun ban.

But amid strong opposition on the proposed gun ban extension, the PNP appeared to be bent on supporting it, citing the significant decrease in crime incidents due to such policy as one of the reasons.

“We are also driven by the recent pronouncements and requests not only from different sectors but also from individual private persons requesting that we extend the gun ban concepts that we have implemented during the election period,” said Verzosa.

Verzosa, however, was quick to clarify that the debate on the issue must have stemmed from the wrong interpretation of what they are really pushing for.

“A number of people are scared because we term it as a gun ban, actually it is not a total gun ban because some persons are still allowed to carry guns but under circumstances or control,” said Verzosa.

“What we want to implement are measures to control if not eradicate the presence of firearms in the streets and unauthorized areas or places because we cannot allow our country to have a proliferation of firearms of which we all know are the main instruments of violence here in the Philippines,” he added.

“Not only violence but also the main instruments being used by threat groups that are around, like the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army), the renegade MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front ) and MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group), you name it. And even the syndicates,” said Verzosa.

In May last year, the PNP launched aggressive campaign against loose firearms after its intelligence unit reported that there was an estimated 1.1 million loose firearms in the country.

Recent updates revealed that the PNP has already reduced it to a little over 600,000 due to some measures like the two-month gun amnesty last year and the operations against partisan armed groups and crime syndicates.

Since the gun ban was implemented on June 10, nearly 3,000 people have already been arrested, including soldiers and policemen, while some 2,500 firearms were confiscated.

“There now appears to be some sectors that do not want a gun ban maybe let’s check the background of these sectors or these individuals that are giving unnecessary comments,” said Verzosa.

“I hope we will be together in coming up with a gun control program of which we will all be participating,” he added.