MANILA, Philippines - I held the pistol delicately, turning it over, examining it.

"Can it kill?" I asked the salesman at a well-known gun store in Metro Manila.

"Yes. The bullet is strong enough," he said.

It was a .32 caliber, black Beretta Tomcat that could fire 7 rounds. It costs P39,000.

MANILA, Philippines - Should the Philippines adopt a total gun ban to prevent tragedies such as the latest shootings which claimed the life of a young girl in Manila and 8 people in Cavite?

Lawmakers disagree on whether such law – proposed in 2010 and still a pending bill in Congress – would deter criminals.

MANILA, Philippines - There are 9 session days left before the official campaign period for the May elections, but Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr said the House of Representatives can still take up and finish deliberations on pending bills pushing for stricter gun control in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court affirmed on Tuesday, January 8, its earlier dismissal of a petition that asked the Commission on Elections to implement the constitutional provision against political dynasties.

SC acting spokeswoman Victoria Gleoresty Guerra said the SC junked the motion for reconsideration filed by businessman Louis Biraogo on its decision in a petition he filed in October 2012.

Today millions of Filipinos troop to the streets of Manila to participate in the annual procession for the feast of the Black Nazarene.

The life-size statue, housed in the Quiapo Church since 1787, is said to have occasioned miracles ranging from the cure of diseases to other personal petitions. Many have committed to joining the procession every year as thanksgiving for an answered prayer, or a promise just so their prayers would be answered.