Twenty-three people, including seven policemen, will face charges for illegally discharging their firearms from Dec. 16, 2018, to Jan. 1, 2019, Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said Tuesday.
He made the statement even as Quezon City Police Chief Joselito Esquivel Jr. said there were no reported cases of stray bullets and almost “zero-crime” incidents in Quezon City during the holidays.
Albayalde said aside from the policemen, the others who were caught illegally firing their guns were two government officials, one Armed Forces of the Philippines serviceman, 10 civilians, two security guards and one law enforcement agent.
“As I have promised, there will be no mercy for errant personnel who will fire their guns to celebrate the holidays,” Albayalde said in a statement.
“The full might of the law will be applied to these trigger-happy gun owners.”
The PNP deployed 26,676 policemen for general law enforcement and public safety duties in places where people gather, including transportation hubs and bus terminals during the holidays.
The police arrested 97 people for selling or using prohibited firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices.
Esquivel said except for a lone attempted homicide that took place at 10:30 pm on Monday in Gulod village in Novaliches and 11 firecracker-related injuries, there were no other crimes reported.
He credited the almost zero-crime incidents and generally peaceful celebration of the New Year to the policemen who patrolled the streets despite the rainy weather.
“As a whole, we deployed 1,405 police officers on the streets and identified firecracker zones in different villages. I ordered my men to apprehend those behind indiscriminate firing and the use of illegal firecrackers,” Esquivel said.
“Because of this, we had a generally peaceful New Year celebration.”
At least 965 violators of city ordinances were accosted and two were arrested for illegal drug use from Dec. 31 until Jan. 1.
Firecracker-related injuries also decreased, with only 11 incidents reported compared to 25 in 2017.”‹