PHILIPPINES: DANAO, A SMALL TOWN IN THE PHILIPPINES MAKES UP TO TEN THOUSAND GUNS AND WEAPONS A MONTH

Record ID: 646278

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: DANAO, A SMALL TOWN IN THE PHILIPPINES MAKES UP TO TEN THOUSAND GUNS AND WEAPONS A MONTH
  • Date: 3rd May 1995
  • Summary: DANAO, PHILIPPINES (RECENT) (RTV) 1. GV DANAO APPROACHES AND BVUS 0.05 2. GV SIGN SAYING "WELCOME TO DANAO CITY " 0.08 3. GV GUNSMITH LUZVIMINDA BAYO CARRYING HER CHILD WHILE DIPPING GUN INTO TIN FULL OF A CHEMICAL SOLUTION 0.12 4. GV REVOLVERS READY FOR DIPPING 0.17 5. SCU TILT DOWN BAYO DIPPING REVOLVER (2 SHOTS) 0.30 6. SCU BAYO SAYING "WITH THIS JOB, OUR CHILDREN ARE ABLE TO EAT THREE TIMES A DAY. WHEN I WAS SELLING BARBECUES, I COULD HARDLY FEED MY FAMILY BECAUSE I HAVE FIVE CHILDREN.I KNOW IT'S DANGEROUS, BUT THERE'S NOTHING ELSE WE CAN DO.THERE ARE NO OTHER JOBS FOR US." (TAGALOG) 0.49 7. SV/CU BAYO WRAPPING REVOLVER IN NEWSPAPER (2 SHOTS) 1.02 8. GV/SV GUNSMITHS TEST-FIRING GUNS 1.12 9. CU MAGAZINE LOADED INTO SUBMACHINE GUN 1.16 10. CU MAN AIMING SUBMACHINE GUN 1.20 11. GV SUBMACHINE GUN BEING FIRED 1.25 12. GV GUN BEING USED AS A KEYCHAIN 1.29 13. SV/CU MAN AIMING KEYCHAIN GUN AND FIRING 1.36 12. GV WORKSHOP 1.39 13. SVS/CUS MEN WORKING IN WORKSHOP (6 SHOTS) 2.02 14. GVS PARTIALLY FINISHED GUNS (2 SHOTS) 2.10 15. SV INTERVIEW WITH GUNSMITH WENCENSLAO BANZON 2.13 16. GUNSMITH BANZON SAYING "WE FEEL IT. MOST OF THE GUNMAKERS FEEL IT AS A BUSINESS. I FEEL IT AS A TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE AND THAT WOULD BE THE BASIS FOR THE COUNTRY TO CONCENTRATE SOME OF THE EFFORTS TOWARDS MANUFACTURING." (ENGLISH) 2.47 17. SV/SCUS GUNSMITHS ASSEMBLING GUNS (3 SHOTS) 2.58 18. CUS ENGRAVING BRAND AND PATENT MARKS ON GUN (2 SHOTS) 3.06 19. SV REPORTER AND NELSON SABAYTON, CHAIRMAN OF THE WORKERS LEAGUE OF DANAO 3.11 20. SCU SABAYTON SAYING "PRECISELY WE HOPE THAT THIS INDUSTRY WILL BE LEGITIMISED. THAT IS OUR DREAM FOR QUITE SOMETIME SINCE 1986."(ENGLISH) 3.25 21. CU AUTOMATIC PISTOL BEING FIRED 3.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 18th May 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DANAO, PHILIPPINES
  • City:
  • Country: Phillippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA79W4CC535ZK36I4FN1PZQDC5Z
  • Story Text: INTRO:The small town of Danao in the Philippines churns out everything from handguns to automatic weapons on a handicrafts basis, reaching a maxiumum of ten thousand weapons a month. The local police and military turn a blind eye to this illegal activity as it provides a source of income and employment for the local people. From automatic weapons to dinky little revolvers you can dangle from a key chain, the backyard gunsmiths of the central Philippine town of Danao churn out enough firearms every year to keep a small war ticking over.

    Their activities are creative and ingenious -- but entirely illegal.

    Counting Japan's yakuza crime gangs among their best customers, Danao gunsmiths have for decades been producing fake Ithaca shotguns, Smith and Wesson revolvers and Colt .45 pistols.

    Lately they have added Ingram sub-machinegun clones to their product range and at least one manufacturer does a nice line in Uzi lookalikes.

    Production reached a peak a few years back of 10,000 units a month but is now back down to 4,000 after the Philippines started tightening up enforcement of its widely ignored gun control laws.

    The gunsmiths' productivity is all the more remarkable in that their weapons are hand-made, with only the most basic of machines involved, in small workshops in shacks and family backyards in the town of Danao.

    Gunmaker Luzviminda Bayo helps in the design of the guns in her tumbledown backyward.

    For 25 pesos (just under 1 U.S. dollar) per gun, Bayo boils them in a chemical broth over the wood fire to "blue" the gunmetal.

    "Most of the gunmakers feel it as a business," self-taught master craftsman Wenceslao Banzon told Reuters in a recent interview.

    Banzon is one of the driving forces behind a campaign to get the government to legalise the Danao firearms industry and support it as a legitimate part of the country's economic development.

    He also believes allowing the industry to come above ground will enable it to diversify into manufacturing other products and will help control who buys the guns.

    The Danao gunsmiths say they sell mainly to middlemen and don't really know who their customers are, although they concede that the yakuza are regular clients.

    Danao gunsmiths pride themselves on being able to produce what the market wants at a fraction of the price of a legal weapon.

    Demonstrating one of their current most popular handguns, a copy of a Smith and Wesson .357, Banzon said a Danao version cost about 4,000 pesos (154 U.S. dollars) against the Philippine import price of 30,000 (1,154 U.S. dollars) to 40,000 (1,540 U.S. dollars) for the genuine article.

    The gunsmiths concede quality may be not as good as the real thing, after all they use mainly scrap metal and hardware store supplies instead of high-grade steel.

    Banzon dreams of a legal Danao gun industry producing more sophisticated firearms, including the assault rifle he himself designed, and of eventually providing the weapons for the Philippine armed forces' current modernisation programme.

    Chairman of the Workers' League of Danao, Nelson Sabayton, said the gunmakers hoped the industry would soon be legitimised.


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