Since the start of the year, policemen in Metro Manila have seized nearly 700 unlicensed firearms, a haul considerably higher compared to last year’s.
“These are the main instruments in many crimes. You seize these and you reduce the crime rates eventually,” Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, National Capital Regional Police Office director, said in an interview on Monday.
According to him, the NCRPO has confiscated 693 short and long illegal firearms since January, far above the 194 it seized in 2011.
The confiscated firearms, most of which were seized at police checkpoints, were shown to media during the celebration of the NCRPO’s 111th founding anniversary, which also honored exemplary police officers and units.
Espina said the haul was a result of the intensified police operations being implemented by his office through a number of its programs, including the Police Integrated Patrol System (PIPS).
It refers to the conduct of saturation drives, checkpoints, implementation of search and arrest warrants and mobile and foot patrols.—Niña Calleja