Editorial: Sneaking out guns

IT’S about three months to go before the elections in May. The gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already started and the Philippine National Police (PNP) has been doing an all-out campaign against loose firearms.

Last week, the PNP in the region conducted a firearms caravan at Camp Alagar in Cagayan de Oro to encourage owners to renew the licenses of their guns or surrender those with expired or revoked licenses.

Over at checkpoints and other high risk areas in the region, authorities are busy checking on vehicles for firearms or anything that might be illegal.

But even with this massive campaign against loose firearms, criminals still manage to sneak out their guns and do their usual thing.

On Thursday last week, a Korean national was shot inside his house in Barangay Cugman, Cagayan de Oro. Fortunately, the foreigner survived the murder attempt, which police eyed might be business-related or due to personal grudge.

Last January 31, a woman was also shot and killed in Barangay Nazareth after she refused to give her bag to suspected robbers.

These criminal acts happened within the gun ban period and the public wonders what is our police doing.

As per PNP data, there are at least 15,000 loose firearms in Northern Mindanao, 5,000 of which are in Cagayan de Oro. But during last week’s firearms caravan, only 21 firearms from the city with expired or revoked licenses have been accounted. Where are the remaining 4,979? That’s quite a number to consider.

Yes, authorities are going after loose firearms, but are their efforts enough? Perhaps, they need to double time and really go after those criminals who dare to do their acts at this time when guns are being banned.