PNP leadership cites Cordillera brass for gun drive

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – The leadership of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame recently cited the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera for its exemplary accomplishment in the campaign against unlicensed firearms and the implementation of the firearms amnesty program.

Director Leopoldo Bataoil, chief of the Directorate for Police Community Relations of the PNP, said law enforcers in the region must still strive hard in trying to account thousands of illegal firearms in possession of alleged unscrupulous individuals, mostly politicians, so that next year’s synchronized national and local elections will be the most peaceful and orderly one in the country’s history.

Based on a report, Chief Supt. Orlando Pestano, PRO-COR regional director, informed the PNP leadership they enlisted 695 high and low-powered firearms in the campaign against illegal firearms and the implementation of the amnesty for illegal guns.

Out of the said number of firearms, 63 guns were reportedly confiscated in different police operations region-wide, 85 guns were able to avail of the amnesty while 547 firearms were able to be renewed their licenses by the gunholders.

Pestano said bulk of the seized firearms came from the provinces of Abra and Apayao because of the intensified foot and mobile patrols of law enforcers coupled with the enforcement of mobile and stationary checkpoints.

According to him, Abra has been included as one of the areas of immediate concern by the Commission on Elections, thus, law enforcers with the help of the military and concerned officials and residents must work together in accounting for the thousands of unlicensed guns believed to be hidden by erring politicians and individuals in the region.

The PRO-COR is mandated to enlist over 10,000 unlicensed guns which are in the possession of individuals in the different parts of the region until the expiration of the firearms amnesty program on Oct. 31.

Bataoilsaid the 3.21 percent accomplishment of the PRO-COR in the campaign against unlicensed firearms is an indication of the good working relationship between the police and the community since people, holding unlicensed guns are being encouraged to avail of the program because of the much cheaper rates to be paid compared to the excessive fees during regular days.

Earlier, the PNP gave the PRO-COR a quota of 650 firearms to be enlisted in the program in the first two months of implementation prior to the effectivity of the amnesty program by October 1, 2009.

Aside from Abra and Apayao, Baguio City and Benguet also accounted for a portion of the confiscated firearms because of the presence of the mixed population as a result of the rapid urbanization in both places.

Pestano appealed to gunholders in the different parts of the region to already avail of the amnesty program at the soonest possible time to make sure that they could beat the deadline for registration since the PNP will conduct a massive operation against unlicensed firearms once the amnesty duration expires, thus, illegal firearm holders will be criminally charged once they are apprehended. -- Dexter A. See