KARAPATAN on DILG’s proposal on law vs possession of firearms
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
20 August 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN on DILG’s proposal on law vs possession of firearms
KARAPATAN assailed calls from Interior and Local Governments Sec. Jonvic Remulla to make illegal possession of firearms a non-bailable offense, saying this will only make it easier for the State to cause the prolonged detention of activists and other dissenters.
Said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, many activists and other political opponents targeted for persecution have been slapped with trumped-up cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives based on evidence planted by the arresting teams. Making illegal possession of firearms non-bailable means that it will be enough for the police and military to just plant firearms on their targets to ensure that they cannot be released on bail.
Palabay noted that as of February 2025, at least 228 out of 697 political prisoners then, or almost a third, were facing trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. “With the more than 200 planted firearms in these cases coming from the police and the military, it appears that they are the ones who should be investigated and put behind bars for having such big caches of loose firearms that are used to plant evidence against activists and unjustly arrest and jail them,” added Palabay.
Palabay also said it was laughable for Remulla to pounce on the school shootings in Tacloban City and Zamboanga City as bases for amending the illegal firearms law. “In both cases,” said Palabay, “the juvenile shooters sourced their guns from family members or relatives who were law enforcement officers with legally issued firearms. The guns used in these tragic shooting incidents were licensed.”
“Remulla should not add an amended illegal possession of firearms law to the growing arsenal of legal weapons being wielded against political dissenters on the pretext of curbing criminality, especially when the criminals are turning out to be those in uniform,” concluded Palabay.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.