Senator Robin Padilla has publicly thanked Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla after the Cabinet official pinned a rise in gun-related crime on a firearms statute widely nicknamed after the actor-turned-lawmaker.
Padilla framed Remulla’s remarks not as criticism but as vindication, insisting the secretary had effectively acknowledged that the measure is real and operative.
“Maraming salamat po sa aking itinuturing na kaibigan SILG Jonvic Remulla sa pag-confirm sa mga hindi nakakaalam na meron po talagang Robin Padilla Law na nagpawalang saysay sa Batas Militar o Martial Law na kung tawagin ay PD1866,” the senator said.
The exchange traces back to a Camp Crame press briefing on August 19, 2026, where Remulla argued that easing the legal treatment of loose firearms had opened the door to more violence. The secretary contended that possession of unlicensed guns, once treated as a grave charge, had been softened into a lesser one.
“The ‘Robin Padilla law (Republic Act No. 8294),’ which extinguished culpability and made it a bailable offense, has led to a surge of crimes, precisely because loose firearms is a bailable offense,” Remulla said.
Padilla took the remark as public confirmation, telling those unaware of the law that it exists and that, in his reading, it superseded the martial-law-era decree on illegal firearms possession. No statute carries the official title “Robin Padilla law”; the label is an informal one attached to firearms legislation because of the senator’s own history with gun-possession charges, for which he was convicted in 1994 before receiving a conditional pardon.
Beyond the firearms question, Padilla used the moment to push a separate cause, appealing for the return of Marcos-era restrictions on violent programming. According to the Manila Bulletin’s Balita, the senator singled out the Japanese anime series “Voltes V,” which was pulled from Philippine airwaves during that period, drawing a parallel between the violence once shown on television and what audiences now encounter across free TV, streaming platforms, and social media. He said he believed Remulla was serious about curbing violent crime, which was why he floated reviving what he described as the iron-fisted approach of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
