Effective surrender requirement and deadline
- Any person holding or possessing firearms or ammunitions without a permit or license must surrender them.
- The permit or license must have been previously issued by the Provost Marshal General of the Philippine Army.
- Surrender must be made to the Military Commander of the province or to the Chief of Police of the municipality where the holder or possessor resides.
- The surrender deadline is within thirty days from the date of the proclamation by the respective Provincial Governor of this Proclamation.
Policy and purpose of the directive
- The Proclamation recognizes that firearms were distributed among citizenry during wartime to bolster resistance against the Japanese invader, despite firearm and ammunition laws.
- The Proclamation states that the Government previously refrained from enforcing firearm and ammunition laws to protect inhabitants from Japanese stragglers.
- The Proclamation declares that Japan’s surrender ended hostilities in the Philippines and that the conditions justifying unlicensed possession ceased to exist.
- The Proclamation directs full observance and enforcement of the firearms and ammunitions law to restore normal conditions, constitutional governmental functions, and peace and order.
Scope: covered persons, items, and licensing baseline
- The surrender obligation applies to any person who holds or possesses covered items.
- The covered items are firearms and ammunitions.
- The exemption from the surrender obligation is tied to possession under a permit or license previously issued by the Provost Marshal General of the Philippine Army.
- The surrender obligation is triggered by possession without that permit or license.
Surrender procedure and receiving offices
- Surrender is required to the Military Commander of the province or the Chief of Police of the municipality of the person’s residence.
- The receiving office is determined by the person’s place of residence: province-level military command or municipality-level police command.
- The deadline runs from the local proclamation act by the Provincial Governor, not from September 26, 1945 alone.
Instruments, signatures, and issuance formalities
- The Proclamation bears the President’s signature of Sergio Osmeña.
- It is countersigned by Jose S. Reyes, Secretary to the President.
- The Proclamation is issued with the seal of the Commonwealth of the Philippines affixed.