THE order of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald Dela Rosa to deviate from the annual sealing of police gun muzzles during the holiday season has nothing to do with the administration's war against illegal drugs, a police official said Wednesday.
“Ang performance po ng pulis, kapag kakailanganin niya 'yung lethal weapon, pwede po niyang magamit 'yung baril. Hindi po konektado 'yung hindi po natin paglalagay ng masking tape doon sa ating mga baril doon sa campaign natin against drugs,” PNP Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said.
Carlos issued the statement after Dela Rosa’s order on non-taping of police gun muzzle gained several negative comments.
He reiterated that the PNP is not tolerating the killings related to the illegal drug operations of the PNP, but maintained that they have to continue their efforts related to the campaign.
On Monday, the PNP said they will no longer put a tape on the muzzle of police’s firearms, an annual tradition of the police agency since the 1990s.
The purpose of the tradition is to avoid them from using the government-issued guns indiscriminately during Christmas and New Year revelries.
Carlos then urged the public to immediately report to the PNP if ever they will witness incidents of indiscriminate firing either by civilians or policemen.
According to the Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center data dating back from 2012, most victims of stray bullets brought by indiscriminate firing were children.
However, it said the number of stray bullet victims from 2010 is on a decreasing trend: from 44 cases in 2010, it went down to 13 cases in 2015. (Sunnex)