February 05, 2010 15:49:00
Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales met with officials and candidates in Sulu Friday to discuss “a behavioral agreement” on handling of firearms.
“I’ll meet with two top leaders of Sulu province I will meet with group of Sakur Tan I will ask Sakur Tan to bring all his mayors and candidates and we will speak about a behavioral agreement on how to handle arms,” Gonzales told reporters.
Gonzales said disarming groups in the province is no easy task.
“With the Tusug, you can’t simply seize their guns, it’s part of their culture,” he explained, saying he was basing it on his experience with Tausug members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and some politicians there.
“Tausugs are very responsible in handling weapons. They’re aware of the disaster when you’re irresponsible in handling weapons,” Gonzales.
He said he would discuss with officials measures on how to make Sulu towns “gun-free.”
“I’m not going to start collection drive of firearms in Sulu but I would like for example to see if we can make Jolo town gun free,” Gonzales said.
But he explained that what he meant by “gun free” is “you don’t see firearms” in public. “They may have guns at home but they don’t carry them in public places,” Gonzales said.
“What I’m asking for is this—in certain areas in Sulu we will declare gun-free. Only soldier and police can have authority to walk around with firearms. All the rest, there would be none,” he said.
One of the measures Gonzales said he would suggest is the accounting of all legal firearms of politicians and their supporters and for them to be accountable for their armed men.
http://politics.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&article=20100205-251458
