CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Police here arrested four individuals Tuesday for violating the gun ban implementation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which started Sunday.
The 150-day gun ban, from January 10 until June 9, aims to ensure peaceful and orderly elections this coming May.
Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) Information Officer Superintendent Baltazar Mamaril Jr. said the four persons were apprehended by operatives in Marilao and San Ildefonso, Bulacan checkpoints on Tuesday.
“So far, this is the accomplishment of our men (police) as we step up the drive in compliance to the gun ban and to the Comelec’s directive. In this province, we have not posted any violations yet,” Mamaril told Sun.Star Pampanga.
Mamaril did not disclose the names of the violators, but said the regional police are closely monitoring other areas to ensure that the gun ban would be fully implemented.
Some police officers who preferred not to be named, meanwhile, said the Republic Act (RA), which prohibits them from carrying guns during off duty hours or when in civilian clothes, is a threat to their security, following reports that some of their colleagues have been killed by unidentified gunmen just before the implementation of the gun ban.
An officer detailed to a local official of this province said: “Ang mahirap nito sir, hindi kami makakalaban kung sakaling may banta sa amin. Hindi rin kami makakaresponde kung sakaling may biglang krimen o pangyayari malapit sa amin, halimbawa, kung wala kaming armas kung naka civilian kami.”
Some sectors also professed their worries regarding the gun ban, which they said would be taken by criminals and unscrupulous characters as opportunities to perpetuate crimes against hapless civilians.
But Mamaril told Sun.Star Pampanga that the police have to strictly comply with the requirements of the gun ban.