Dayuhan,

Hope the troubles have ceased, it is bad enough when you're there my yourself, but the concerns obviously increase exponentially when your family is with you. Having fire arms to defend yourself from criminals makes sense, but not sure it would be wise to openly display a weapon in front of NPA militants. It could simply and unnecessarily escalate the situation, since the NPA normally don't target civilians. Trust you know their modus operandi in your area and can make judgment call based on that knowledge.

Interesting article on illicit gun trafficking in the Philippines.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/44717/il...in-philippines

Philippine Customs data monitored by UN Comtrade and the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers show that the Philippines imported 265,149 guns valued at $90.9 million from 2000 to 2010. These are dwarfed by the sales documents of exporting countries that show the Philippines actually importing 434,999 guns valued at $182.9 million from 1996 to 2010.

The discrepancy, 169,850 firearms costing $92 million, leaks into the grey market. The corresponding loss of revenue is quite significant.