Dear Atty. Angela,

My father is a security guard of a supermarket and has been working in a security agency for three years. One evening, a roving police patrol went to the grocery store where my father works and when asked for his license to carry a firearm, he was not able to show it and was apprehended for illegal possession of firearm. He said he honestly did not know that the firearm was not licensed. Also in his defense, he had a License to Exercise Security Profession issued by the Philippine National Police Civil Security Group Office. He also has a Duty Detail Order (DDO) stating his assignment at the supermarket, authorizing him to carry an agency-issued firearm. His security agency led him to believe the gun assigned to him was licensed. He is now facing a criminal case. Can he be held criminally liable?

Tom

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Dear Tom,

No, your father cannot be made accountable and criminally responsible for illegal possession of firearms.

In the case of Hilario Cosme v. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 261113 (2024), the Supreme Court ruled that under the law’s 1983 implementing rules, private security agency guards can carry firearms on work premises so long as authorized by a DDO. The 2018 revised rules confirm that the DDO serves as the authority for security personnel to carry their issued firearm within the assigned location and period. The issuance of a DDO assumes the presence of a valid license for the firearms listed in the order.

Further, the SC clarified that guards are entitled to rely on the standard language in the DDO that the issued firearms are licensed. They do not need to demand from the security agency proof that the firearms are indeed registered.

In this case, since there was no proof that your father had any knowledge that his issued firearm was unlicensed, and he was properly authorized through a DDO, he was in honest belief that he was duly authorized to carry a firearm which the agency issued to him. As such, he is absolved from facing any criminal liability and must be acquitted from the case.

Atty. Angela Antonio