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Two engineers here working at City Engineers Office (CEO) are in hot water for violations of a total gun ban which is being imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The two employees of the office of City Engineer Luis Vicente Despalo were found by law enforcers to be carrying firearms at a checkpoint in Barangay Divisoria.

A source from Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) station disclosed that the two were not aware that Zamboanga City was included in a one-month long total gun ban in ARMM.

Under the Comelec resolution, aside from Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, the gun ban extends to Cotabato City, Isabela City in Basilan, Zamboanga City as well as Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and North Cotabato.

In an exclusive interview, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told Zamboanga Today that there are no exemptions in the gun ban.
“Hindi puwedeng sorry na lang...kakasuhan sila for violation of the gun ban walang exemption..,” he stressed.

Despalo, in an interview aired over RMN, asked for apology and consideration citing security reasons for city government projects.
In reponse to the city engineer’s pleading, Jimenez said “ignorance of the law execuses no one.”

The Comelec spokesman added that they had published the gun ban resolution in the national newspapers.
Under Comelec Resolution 9479, published in the Philippine Inquirer the carrying of firearms is prohibited from July 1 to 31. The registration is on July 9 to 18.

“According to the law, bastante na iyon..sufficient na iyong notice to the public,” he said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) had earlier said that there are no exemptions in the gun ban.

“Even the candidates are not exempted from its implementation that they are not allowed to hire personal bodyguards but only security personnel assigned by the PNP,” said DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo.

The gun ban is aimed at maintaining peace and order in the entire region during the 2013 mid-year election.

by: Hader Glang