Close to 400 weapons, nine of them high-powered firearms, were seized by the Nueva Ecija police. File photos/Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon
MANILA, Philippines — Since the beginning of 2023, authorities nationwide have seized over 12,000 illegal firearms, killing 29 armed wanted persons in some of the raids, Philippine National Police chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. said on Monday.
Acorda said from January 1 to June 2, authorities confiscated a total of 12,059 illegal firearms from 3,758 arrested persons who had these weapons.
The PNP also received 7,032 firearms for safekeeping, according to Acorda.
“The PNP policing strategies have been adjusted to cope with the added requirements for a conducive peace and order environment that will guarantee a secure, clean, and fair elections in the country’s more than 42,000 barangays,” Acorda said in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Monday.
“Our primary concerns include the existence of private armed groups and loose firearms,” he added.
The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will be held on Oct. 30, but the election period will begin on July 3 until Nov. 14.
Commission on Elections set the gun ban from August 28 to November 29.
READ: PNP monitoring 45 ‘potential’ private armed groups ahead of barangay, SK polls
Gang members
Acorda also said 897 gang members, belonging to 200 neutralized criminal gangs, were arrested in 690 police-initiated operations from January 1 to June 2.
As a result of the gang-related operations, 10 other gang members died, 84 other gang members surrendered, and 124 firearms were seized from the gangs’ arsenal.
Wanted persons
The official noted PNP captured 30,591 wanted persons and accepted the surrender of 184 “Wanted Persons” from January 1 to June 2.
“Some of these operations resulted in armed encounters with arresting officers,” he said.
The clashes led to the death of 29 wanted persons, which Acorda said: “Died in lawful police interdiction.”
READ: PNP confiscates 684 firearms, revokes 240 licenses in campaign vs illegal guns