Note to gun owners: ‘Katok’ cops knocking on your door

Guillermo Eleazar —JAM STA ROSA

As a measure to curb election-related violence in the months leading to next year’s midterm polls, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said it would revive “Oplan Katok,” the campaign where police officers visit the homes of people keeping firearms whose licenses have expired.

Similar to the controversial “Oplan Tokhang,” where suspected drug users are asked to submit themselves to rehabilitation programs, gun owners approached under Katok will be asked to surrender their unregistered firearms and start the license application or renewal process.

The NCRPO said Oplan Katok was only one of the many aspects of its expanding crackdown on loose firearms ahead of the May 2019 elections.

In 2016, the year the country elected a new president and members of Congress, the Commission on Human Rights recorded at least 30 deaths due to election-related violence.

“We are calling on our countrymen to help us so we can gather these loose firearms and help to have a peaceful and orderly election,” said NCRPO chief Director Guillermo Eleazar in a statement on Thursday.

In line with these intensified operations, the NCRPO chief also announced the arrest of a businessman in Pasay City on Wednesday morning for keeping unlicensed firearms, explosives and ammunition.

Pasay trader held

Thanks to a tip from the businessman’s neighbors, police earlier obtained a search warrant from Pasay Regional Trial Court Judge Divina Gracia Lopez Pelino on the house of Romao Madaje, 55, on FB Harrison Street, Barangay 77.

In a predawn raid, members of the NCRPO-Regional Special Operations Unit found one Glock 19 pistol, one Colt MK IV pistol, one hand grenade and several rounds of live ammunition at Madaje’s home.

Madaje faces charges for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act and Illegal Possession of Explosives Act, or Republic Act 10591.

“If you have guns that are unlicensed, coordinate with the nearest police station so you can be visited and aided in the renewal of your license,” Eleazar said. “Otherwise we’ll be forced to conduct [an investigation] and, if need be, secure a search warrant.”