The Philippine National Police called on gun holders yesterday to be wary of the gun ban implementation as the number of those arrested for violating the election security measure nears 2,000.
PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Bernard Banac said some of the violators could either be ignoring the gun ban or unaware of the rules and regulations.
“Civilians will face criminal charges for illegal possession of firearms while government employees that include policemen and soldiers will face additional administrative cases,” said Banac.
Based on the PNP data, most of the gun ban violators are civilians with more than 1,600 arrested.
At least 20 policemen, three soldiers, and several government employees were collared while 35 security guards were nabbed.
Policemen and security guards, the PNP warned, will only be spared from gun ban if they are both in proper uniform and on duty.
Almost 1,400 guns were also seized while a number of deadly weapons and even gun replicas were also seized.
Banac said some of those arrested and guns seized were due to police operations on criminal elements.
The gun ban was implemented on Jan. 13 and will be until June 12.
The gun ban implementation is part of the security measures for the peaceful and honest conduct of the midterm polls on May 13. (Aaron Recuenco)
