ANOTHER person was apprehended by policemen Monday morning in Barangy Puso in the municipality of La Castellana relative to the Commission on Election (Comelec) gun ban.
Arrested was Emmanuel Apostol, 25, a resident of Sitio Tabalogo of Barangay Budlasan in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, for possessing a caliber 357 revolver.
Apostol is the 13th suspect arrested in Negros Occidental for violating the gun ban since the start of the election period in January 10.
Violators of the Comelec Resolution No. 8714 or total gun ban has soared to 32, including Apostol, based on the arrests done in various Philippine National Police (PNP)-Comelec checkpoints, saturation drives and call for police assistance throughout Western Visayas.
The Negros Police Provincial Office (Noppo) is still on top of the other provincial and city PNP offices in the region based on the number of arrests since the banning took effect.
The Capiz provincial PNP followed with six arrests; Bacolod City Police Office with five arrests; Antique, 4; and Aklan, 3, a government press agency said.
The city and province of Iloilo finally broke their zero record with a lone violator arrested in the city whose identity was not readily made available by the city PNP and two arrests made by the Iloilo Provincial Police Office (Ippo).
Meanwhile, Camp Delgado has yet to come up with its consolidated report on firearms confiscation made by various PNP units in its campaign against total gun ban.
But based on the latest data, a total of 18 firearms, four bladed weapons, a fragmentation grenade and one explosive have been confiscated in various checkpoint operations in the region.
Ten violators have already been criminally charged while 10 other cases are still under investigation, pending the filing of charges against the offenders.
Among those apprehended were civilians, a government employee, an engineer, employees of private offices, an army corporal, a militiaman or Cafgu, a rebel leader and a fire officer.
Camp Delgado's Police Regional Office 6 regional director Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas has reiterated his call on all PNP units in the provincial, city and municipality to further intensify checkpoint operations in their respective area of jurisdiction pursuant to Comelec resolution on total gun ban.