PHILIPPINES
A total of 246 religious leaders have filed their applications for a permit to carry firearms outside their residence, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde said on Wednesday.
His announcement came a week after Fr. Richmond Nilo was gunned down in a chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.
Of the 246, 188 are priests and 58 are ministers, preachers and pastors.
Albayalde said he supports arming the religious as long as they are qualified to own a duly approved gun license.
“As a policy and by the power vested in me as the approving authority for permit to carry firearms outside residences, we may accommodate requests for permit to carry firearms outside by duly qualified gun holders among members of the clergy and leaders of religious congregations, subject to their compliance with the minimum requirements,” he added.
Albayalde said people, including priests, can only own two short-range firearms. They, however, can carry more than three firearms if the approving authority puts them in the category of gun collectors.
The Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) previously opposed the idea of arming priests, saying it contradicts their faith since firearms can kill people.
Senators Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino 4th also opposed the proposal, saying it breeds more violence.
Reports surfaced that some priests in Laguna had started arming themselves to counter attacks against them.
Three priests have been killed in the past six months – Nilo, Fr. Marcelito “Tito” Paez, and Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura.
