THE Philippine National Police has arrested 1,485 individuals for violating the Commission on Elections gun ban, said PNP Spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor.
Of the number, Mayor said 1,428 were civilians, 10 police officers, 14 government officials, six from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, one from the Bureau of Fire Protection, 19 security guards, five employees of a law enforcement agency, and two members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit, Mayor said.
Police confiscated 1,110 firearms, 13,691 deadly weapons, 69 grenades, 128 other explosives, 54 firearm replicas, 414 bladed/pointed weapons and 12,949 ammunition.
The gun ban is being implemented by the PNP and other law enforcement agencies in line with the country’s national and local elections on May 9. The ban will last until June 8.
Meanwhile, the AFP and PNP in Eastern Mindanao have started to discuss on how to jointly deploy their forces in areas of immediate and concern and hotspots in preparations for the local campaign period for the 2016 polls.
Newly promoted Lieutenant General Rey Guerrero, commander of Eastmincom, said he met Thursday with his PNP counterpart in the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Eastern Mindanao and they have forged a joint action plan.
“The joint action plan will enable both parties to have a common understanding of the actions that will be implemented for the year,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero has just been promoted to three-star general, the first among the members of the Philippine Military Academy “Maharlika” Class 1984.
He said combined troops from the military and police are ready for deployment once the Comelec ordered them for posting.
“We discussed the preparations for the 2016 national elections that include risk and threat assessment dubbed SAFE 16,” Guerrero said.
“We have special units ready for deployment to provide security to our NGCP Towers and cell sites,” he added.