PAGADIAN
CITY, Zamboanga del Sur (Jan. 11, 2016)– Senior Supt. Michael Nicolas,
provincial police director, announced that on the first day of the election gun
ban enforcement yielded zero arrest and confiscation of firearms in this
province.
The gun
ban took effect midnight of January 10 in time for the start of the election
period for the May 2016 presidential and local elections pursuant to Commission
on Elections (Comelec) Resolution No. 3328.
City
Police Chief Supt. Michael Palermo said that in Pagadian City during the first
day of implementation mostly arrested are in violation of RA 4136 or violation
of traffic rules and regulation.
Supt. Nicolas
said that in the province some were arrested in violation of 4136 in four nearby
towns of Pitogo, San Miguel, Dumalinao and Labangan and illegal drugs in the nearby
municipality of Josefin wherein 10 sachet of shabut were confiscated with two
suspects arrested.
No one
was arrested in firearms when they simultaneously conducted checkpoints in the
entire province at the start of the gun ban, Nicolas added.
Nicolas’
area of responsibility is the entire province that consists of one component
city and 26 municipalities.
Nicolas
said that random checkpoints will be conducted along the national highways to
ensure compliance of Comelec Resolution No. 3328.
The
Comelec resolution stated that only policemen and soldiers including security
guards and other security government agencies are allowed to carry firearms
during work hours in their areas of responsibility for the duration of the
election period.
Atty.
Jossil Macute, acting provincial election supervisor, said those who wish to be
exempted from the gun ban may apply online with the Comelec’s Committee on the
Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP). By JONG D. CADION
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