Police have arrested 25 persons in the first 24 hours of the implementation of the nationwide gun ban that coincided with the start of the election period last Sunday.
Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, said that checkpoints set up across the country have confiscated 27 firearms, seven bladed weapons, and 22 gun replicas.
“We hit the ground running in the first 24 hours of checkpoint operations starting in the opening minutes of Sunday, Jan. 13, to strictly enforce the nationwide gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections,” said Albayalde.
He said his men also confiscated 70 sachets of suspected shabu and two glass pipes containing marijuana.
Albayalde said 4,447 checkpoints were initially set up since the election period for the May 2019 polls started at 12:01 a.m.
Based on the PNP memorandum, police commanders were required to set up at least one checkpoint in every town in the country.
Albayalde said the establishment of checkpoints is aimed at ensuring peaceful conduct of the midterm elections in May.
“The first day of the election period maybe considered generally peaceful yet it depicts that violent incidents may still occur due to the number of confiscated firearms,” said Albayalde.
Albayalde said he has required all police commanders to submit daily updates of the gun ban implementation to update and at the same time inform and warn the public.
“There will be daily updates of reported gun ban violations for the entire duration of the election period thru the election monitoring and action centers on the national, regional, and provincial levels,” said Albayalde.
Civilians caught violating the gun ban would be slapped with criminal charges while those in the uniformed service will face additional administrative charges. (Aaron B. Recuenco)
