Monday, January 01, 2007 Public urged v. indiscriminate firing By Maricar O. Aranas
THE Negros Oriental Police Provincial Command adheres to the "Iwas paputok, iwas putok campaign" of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in line with the New Year celebration.
Police Superintendent Alet Vertucio, chief of operations in the province, said they have issued a memorandum to all PNP stations in the province to strictly follow the "Iwas paputok, iwas putok campaign" guidelines.
All police officers are not allowed to fire there firearms on New Year except when badly needed.
PNP is following maximum tolerance procedures and warning shots are no longer encouraged by the PNP officers.
Vertucio said they are not following the placing of sticker on their guns' mussel since the province has an insurgency problem.
He said they have to be at all the times ready for any eventualities that might hold surprise attacks.
But he said PNP Provincial command has 100 percent confidence that police officers in the province will honestly follow the rules.
In fact last year there was no single report of indiscriminate firing filed against any police officers in the province.
However, he stressed warnings are issued to all other gun holders in the province to also follow the guidelines.
He said anybody who violates the guidelines will face investigation and possibly end up revoking their firearms license.
Vertucio though still urged the public to be vigilant and report any indiscriminate event especially with persons in authority, adding that such is aimed at keeping the community safe from any accident brought by stray bullets.
