ZAMBOANGA CITY— There are more private armies in Sulu and Basilan than security forces combined, according to a source privy to police operations.
The source, who accompanied Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Jesus Verzosa on an inspection tour here on Sunday, said there were also more firearms in the two provinces than registered voters.
In a briefing conducted by Versoza, the source—who sought anonymity for lack of authority to speak to media—presented figures to support his claim.
He said that in Sulu, Gov. Abdusakur Tan had 9,000 armed followers while Rep. Munir Arbison had 4,000.
The source also said that Tan and Arbison were not on good terms with each other.
PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina said he could not immediately validate the source’s figures.
“We are continuously validating all the figures and reports and I have no clear data as to the number of armed individuals identified with certain candidates running for election,” Espina said.
“There could be more but we don’t have the exact figures,” he added.
But for Brig. Gen. Celestino Pereyra, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade in Sulu, “there are more holders of loose firearms in [the province]” than registered voters.
“Ask the Comelec how many voters there are and it’s more than that,” Pereyra said.
He also backed the source’s claim about the private armies in Sulu.
“We qualified the quantity. Most people are armed in Sulu, firearms in Sulu are not a luxury, they are a necessity,” he said.
There have not been many arrests to speak of, however.
Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Western Mindanao Command chief, said that since the imposition of the election gun ban on Jan. 10, only three persons had been arrested in Sulu for firearms possession.
“Probably they got used to it (carrying firearms) or the information on the gun ban di pa nag-sink in sa lahat,” he said.
Pereyra revealed that the military recently received “a disturbing report” about the landing of 300 firearms in Luuk, Sulu.
Luuk is in Arbison’s bailiwick.
“We have reports on that (arms landing) and we have to validate that. Until now there’s no validation and it will take time,” Pereyra said.
“Very disturbing for us because the arms landing came after the incident in Maguindanao, where many journalists were killed and the firearms reportedly came from the Ampatuans,” said Sulu Board Member Hector Buclao.
He was referring to the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people, including 30 journalists, in Maguindanao.
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