MORE than 100 firearms were confiscated in Cebu City during the election period set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from January 9 to June 8, 2022.
Colonel Ernesto Salvador Tagle, head of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), and Cebu City North District election officer Edwin Cadungog showed to the media a total of 134 licensed and unlicensed firearms that were either surrendered to them or confiscated by them.
Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy city director for operations of CCPO, said this was the result of their campaign to strictly implement the Comelec gun ban.
Rafter said they set up checkpoints and visited the houses of people whose gun permits had already expired through the "Oplan Katok."
They also visited the house of people whose gun permits had already expired. They asked them to surrender their firearms while their papers were still being processed.
The Comelec thanked the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces for peaceful and orderly turnout of the May 9, 2022 elections.
There were also no untoward election-related incidents in the city, he said.
Cadungog admitted that they had received information that vote-buying was prevalent in some areas, but no one complained to their office.
The election official said it is difficult to prove vote-buying incidents because a lot of elements must be considered.
Illegal drugs, criminality
Meanwhile, more than P160 million worth of illegal drugs were also seized by police in the last five months.
The CCPO said from January 9 to June 8, 2022, it seized more than 23 kilos of suspected shabu estimated to be worth around P160.2 million.
It also launched 784 anti-illegal drugs operations that resulted in the arrest of 880 drug personalities, 333 of whom were identified as high-value and 547 were street-level individuals.
Police also arrested 560 wanted persons, 177 of whom were part of their most wanted list.
The CCPO also launched 3,131 Comelec checkpoint operations and have issued 6,554 citation tickets to motorists with various traffic violations.
Police Colonel Ernesto Salvador Tagle, chief of the Cebu City Police Office, said after the election period, he issued an order to his men to focus on the anti-criminality campaign.
"My directive to police station commanders is to continue being vigilant. The elections are over, but criminals will continue their ways," Tagle said in Cebuano.
His order included intensifying the war against illegal drugs. (TPT,JGS)