The Philippine National Police said on Thursday it had arrested 4,661 people for violating the country’s 150-day election gun ban, higher than the number of those rounded up during midterm polls three years ago.
The gun ban, which began January 10 through June 8, was imposed in a bid to control eruptions of violence in last month’s national and local elections. This year’s figure was nearly a thousand more than the 3,724 nabbed in 2013, police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor said.
This year, there were 36 policemen and 21 soldiers apprehended for election gun ban violations, fewer than the 50 policemen and 23 soldiers nabbed in 2013 for the same offense, Mayor said.
PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ricardo Marquez commended the policemen, and their counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Commission on Elections and other agencies for the success of the May 9 elections, but said the arrests must translate as well to convictions.
Certainty of prosecution
“Our success (is) the success of the people. But then again, it is the strong conviction of the PNP that the best deterrence to the commission of the crime is the certainty of prosecution of these arrested gun ban offenders,” he said.
Majority of those arrested this year were civilians at 4,460, higher than 2013’s figure of 3,437. On the other hand, 37 government officials and employees were apprehended this year, along with 58 security guards, and 34 members of threat groups and private armed groups.
Mayor attributed the rise of civilians arrested for the election gun ban to the PNP’s intensified implementation of the firearms prohibition.
For this year’s election period, 3,828 firearms were confiscated while 3,821 were deposited with the PNP for safekeeping. This year’s figure was higher than 3,617 seized firearms in 2013.
There were also 42,020 deadly weapons and 39,935 rounds of ammunition seized this year, as compared to 32,874 deadly weapons and 30,865 rounds of ammunition in 2013.
Charges filed
Charges of illegal possession of firearms and the election gun ban have been filed against those arrested. Government employees including policemen and soldiers, meanwhile, face additional administrative charges.
In the case of PNP and Army personnel, they will be charged with grave misconduct which is punishable with a maximum penalty of dismissal from the service, Mayor said.
The seized firearms have been turned over to the crime laboratory for ballistic examinations to determine if these were used in committing other crimes.
The owner of the firearm will face additional cases if his seized gun was indeed found to have been used in committing past crimes, police said.