Central Visayas cops note peaceful start of gun ban

CEBU, Philippines — The first day of the implementation of checkpoints, in line with the ban on firearms, has been peaceful with no violator recorded for the whole Central Visayas.

In Cebu City, Police Lt. Colonel Wilbert Parilla said that as of Monday afternoon, they were not able to intercept any violators yet.

"Hapsay ug malinawon atong implementation sa checkpoints," said Parilla, deputy director for operations of Cebu City Police Office.

The checkpoints began at 12:01 a.m. on January 9 and will end on June 8, 2022 as mandated by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) that suspends all the licenses to carry firearms except for law enforcers.

However, law enforcers who are off-duty and are not in their prescribed uniform are also not allowed to bring their issued firearms.

According to Parilla, they have put an emphasis that the police personnel should be polite at all times when conducting checkpoints on the 12 stations they put up.

To avoid the long queue of traffic, Parilla said they have a profiler in every team of those who are conducting the checkpoint to fasten its pace.

"Ug makita nato nga grabe na ang kataas or heavy na ang traffic, ato na na sya i-random aron di na maka cause og traffic," said Parilla.

In Cebu Province, Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) director, said that as of late evening of Sunday, January 9, 2022, they have not recorded any violator yet of the gun ban.

As a whole, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 said, in a statement, that the first six hours of the joint PNP-COMELEC-AFP checkpoint “was a success”.

"PRO-7 is grateful for the public's cooperation and personnel manning the checkpoints, with the presence of poll officers and other representatives on the first day of implementation of Comelec checkpoints in the region. It was successful," said Police Brigadier General Roque Eduardo Vega, PRO-7 director.

This signals the police's readiness on strict implementation of checkpoints in different cities and municipalities to address threats in peace and order and public safety as the May 2022 National and Local Elections is nearing," Vega added.

Aside from this, Vega also ordered all police unit commanders to be in a “high state of operational readiness at all times to deter criminal activities and thwart any hostile actions”.

He added that PRO-7 will have its Regional Election Monitoring Action Center 7(REMAC-7) stationed at the PRO-7 Headquarters to monitor situations and election-related events round the clock in various areas in the region. — GMR (FREEMAN)