Airsofts, airguns, imitation firearms and replicas are included in the ongoing election gun ban.
Thus declared Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, adding that “toy guns per se, which are “readily and easily distinguishable from real firearms, are excluded from the ban.”
“That’s why the enumeration of what would be considered as firearms for purposes of the gun ban are those which have the look of a real firearm. Not readily distinguishable,” Laudiangco said.
The implementation of the gun ban started on January 12, coinciding with the beginning of Election Period. It will be in effect up to June 11, 2025.
Meantime, it was learned that the Comelec is mulling the possibility of temporarily suspending the printing of official ballots for the May 2025 polls.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said an emergency meeting has been called to discuss if there is a need to halt the ongoing printing in the National Printing Office (NPO), Quezon City.
“We are now going to meet if indeed we are to suspend the printing, in the meantime…We will have to find a way to comply with the SC (Supreme Court) directives,” Garcia said.
Suspending the activities at the NPO, he said, will give them time to alter the Election Management System and the Comelec database.
“We have to start again the serialization of each and every candidates name nationwide,” he added.
Early this month, Comelec started the printing of the official ballots for the May 2025 national and local and Bangsamoro parliamentary polls and is expecting to finish the printing of some 73 million ballots by April 14, 2025.
The SC on Tuesday issued five temporary restraining orders (TROs) against the Commission on its decisions involving five senatorial bets Of the five, two have been declared as nuisance candidates while two others were disqualified and one refused to receive the Certificate of Candidacy.
The SC also ordered the Comelec to file its comment on the five cases.
