THE election period officially began Sunday, January 13, and authorities have started to set up checkpoints in identified areas for the enforcement of gun ban.
The gun ban took effect at 12:01 of January 13, Sunday. It will end on June 12.
It means carrying of firearms and explosives outside one's residence is prohibited. Processing of licenses for gun owners is also suspended during the gun ban.
PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said only on-duty policemen, soldiers and other law enforcers are exempted from the gun ban.
The gun ban seeks to prevent unlawful elements, such as private armed groups and gun-for-hire groups, from intimidating, injuring or killing anyone during the election season.
On Saturday, January 12, a command conference took place in preparation for the upcoming May 2019 midterm elections which aimed to iron out concerns particularly on the security preparation, election watchlist areas (EWAs) and election-related incidents (ERIs) in the previous elections and insurgency situation in the region for a better security coverage this year.
Police Regional Office Davao (PRO 11) Director Marcelo Morales said he wants the police officers to study and learn from their experiences during the previous elections.
He said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will set up checkpoints nationwide for the implementation of Commission on Election (Comelec) gun ban and to thwart possible transport of contraband.
Through the conduct of checkpoints, the PNP seeks to intercept guns, explosives and other instruments of violence.
Policemen, however, are allowed to conduct only visual inspection at checkpoints.
Authorities can only ask the passengers to get out of the vehicle if they identified him/her as a subject of an arrest warrant.
Albayalde reminded the public to roll down the car windows and turn on the light inside the vehicle when passing through a checkpoint to avoid being the subject of suspicion and causing a traffic jam.
Likewise, Morales assured the public that they are doing their efforts in coordination with their counterparts to intensify the implementation of security plans all over the region.
Also discussed during the meeting was the PNP Ethical Doctrine which states that PNP members shall provide services to everyone without discrimination regardless of party affiliation in accordance with existing laws and regulations.
Meanwhile, he reminded the city and provincial commanders to be non-partisan and that all PNP personnel must observe utmost discipline and professionalism at all times especially during this election period.
"To prevent policemen from being influenced by politicians, we will reshuffle some police officers. Any police officer who has a relative running for a post will be reassigned," Morales said.