FOUR individuals were arrested for violating the gun ban at the start of the election period.
Prior to the peace covenant signing in the different provinces of the Cordillera region, the Philippine National Police (PNP) simultaneously set up Comelec checkpoints at midnight of January 12 which resulted in the arrest of Feliciano Ladiong and Nicanor Tagatag.
Both were caught in possession of firearms with ammunition at the Calanan Junction and Barangay Appas, in Tabuk City, Kalinga within the first few hours of January 13, the start of the election period and the gun ban.
Ladiong was carrying a caliber .45 while Tagatag was in possession of a caliber .38 with bullets inserted in its magazine.
Both suspects failed to present a permit to carry and possess firearms.
On January 14, Mark John Biccay was arrested by Abra police at a checkpoint in Tangadan, San Quintin for carrying caliber .38 revolver with ammunition and without the necessary documents.
Chief Superintendent Rolando Nana, regional director of the Police Regional Office in Cordillera (PRO-Cor) encouraged the police to be more alert in the implementation of the election gun ban following the arrest.
Nana also warned the public the police will strictly implement checkpoints, especially where election-related incidents were recorded in the past.
“Staging of checkpoints is an inherent function of the PNP, but this time, we are stricter in our implementation if only to prevent any kind of election-related incident as well as those that are not,” Nana Said.
Meanwhile, a suspected drug pusher was also arrested in Abra on January 15.
Police collared Raffy Reballos, during a drug bust operation in Zone 5, Bangued.
While performing body search on the suspect, operatives seized one ammunition for caliber .9mm and one heat-sealed sachet containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu, a mobile phone, and two P500 bills.