PNP records six stray bullet victims days before New Year’s Eve

MANILA, Philippines–It’s still three days before the New Year’s Eve, yet the Philippine National Police has already recorded six stray bullet casualties across the country.

Based on the latest tally of incidents from the PNP National Operations Center, two individuals suffered injuries from stray bullets in Metro Manila.

In Calabarzon region, three people were wounded while a lone casualty was reported in Central Visayas region.

Last Monday (Dec. 22), Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, PNP officer-in-charge, ordered all PNP personnel to seal with masking tape the muzzles of their firearms to prevent indiscriminate firing incidents.

From the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City down to municipal police stations, all 150,000 policemen taped shut their firearms aiming for a “gun-free” holiday celebration.

Earlier, Espina vowed to identify and hunt down violators of the policy in cooperation with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other law enforcement agencies.

He said joint teams of PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel will be deployed nationwide to conduct preventive patrols to arrest uniformed personnel, members of law enforcement agencies as well as civilians who will be caught firing their guns.

Meanwhile, four persons were hurt in the regions of Ilocos. Calabrzon and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao due to incidents of illegal discharge of firearms.

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