Following a recent school shooting in South Cotabato, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) plans to petition the Supreme Court for authorization allowing police officers to conduct home inspections on registered firearm owners to enforce strict storage rules.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla stated that the proposal seeks clear legal guidelines from the High Court after a string of campus violence—including incidents in Tacloban City, Zamboanga City, and Banga National High School in South Cotabato—all involved minors accessing legally registered weapons owned by government workers.
“The Supreme Court ruled that we are not allowed to conduct inspections inside the house (of registered gun owners). I will call upon to make a petition to the Supreme Court to make it legal for the PNP to inspect the homes of legal firearms users to make sure that they are kept properly,” said Remulla.
“In the three perpetrators of the shootings, all are legal firearms, all are owned by government employees. All are not kept properly so there has to be a right for the state to inspect the gun owners to check if they are keeping the firearms properly,” he added.
Investigations revealed that the Tacloban incident involved a police officer’s service pistol, the Zamboanga shooting utilized a firearm owned by a Bureau of Customs employee, and the South Cotabato tragedy involved a gun belonging to a Department of Education worker.
Remulla emphasized that preventing future campus tragedies centers directly on restricting unauthorized access to firearms.
“It is really the access (to firearms),” said Remulla.
“We should have the power to inspect— how they handle their guns, how they store their guns,” said Remulla.
Remulla stressed that because the Philippine National Police (PNP) is the issuing authority for gun ownership, the agency must also have oversight powers to ensure public safety.
“Remember owning a firearm in the Philippines is not enshrined in the Constitution. It is not a right but a privilege and that privilege has to come with a responsibility and that responsibility has to come with accountability especially with the PNP,” he emphasized.
The DILG chief confirmed he will collaborate with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to draft the legal petition before submitting it to the Supreme Court.