The two recent school shootings in Tacloban City and Zamboanga City have led to a proposal from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to let police officers inside gun owners' homes for inspection purposes.

This was bared Thursday, Aug. 27 by DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla after he was asked about the agency's response to the harrowing incidents during a budget hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations.

A total of five students lost their lives as a result of the shootings in San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte and in Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City. These happened less than two months apart from each other.

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Dadah ismula pointed out that government-issued firearms were used in both instances. She then asked the DILG, which has supervisory control over Philippine National Police (PNP), what it planned to do about it.

"There are 800,000 uniformed personnel in the country divided between the PNP, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), Bureau of Customs (BOC), BMJP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology), BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection). In the 800,000, we had two incidents of unauthorized use of their firearms," Remulla said.

He said that, based on protocol, the gun owners were responsible at all times for their guns.

"They are supposed to keep it in safekeeping under lock and key if not in their possession. In both cases, the aunt of the Tacloban shooter just left it on their table; and in the Zamboanga case, it was left in his car," noted the DILG chief.

"Now, what we are proposing is that the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) has to be amended that all lawfully issued firearms are to be--the PNP will be granted access to all homes of lawfully issues firearms (owners) to inspect their procedures in safekeeping," he said.

Remulla admitted that there would probably be some pushback regarding this plan.

"This might upset a few people because it might be interpreted as an impeachment of rights. However, we must remember that the...privilege to own a gun is not enshrined in our Constitution. It is a privilege granted by law to those who wish to avail of a firearm," he explained.

Remulla said that under the proposal, the PNP "must have access, must give notice, and inspect where they put their firearms and how they safekeep it".

"What we propose to do is we revise the IRR, inform the person ahead of time that we will inspect their premises for how they safekeep their guns so that we can have a checklist and remind them of the proper practices," he noted.

Remulla told the House members that there are over four million legak handgun alone spread among uniformed personnel and private citizens.

When Manila 2nd district Rep. Rolando Valeriano asked if DILG would risked encountering legal troubles with such plan, Remulla didn't sound worried.

"It is a function of our IRR and I think it is all incumbent upon us that the privilege bequeathed to the gun owners are also concordant with their responsibility of safekeeping," he said.

"In both cases of school shootings, the safekeeping of the guns were not in standard procedure," said Remulla.

Various House members have earlier sought a congressional inquiry on the school shootings.