Western Visayas Gun Ban Violators Now Total 62

By Jennifer P. Rendon

With three weeks to go before Election Day, 62 individuals have been arrested in Western Visayas for violating the election gun ban.

Records from the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) showed that 57 of the violators are civilians.

The remaining violators include two members of other law enforcement agencies, and one each from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the CAFGU Active Auxiliary.

Lt. Colonel Arnel Solis, PRO-6 spokesperson, clarified that the current tally is lower than what was previously reported, as arrests made by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOcPPO) and the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) were excluded from PRO-6’s count.

NOcPPO and BCPO are now under the jurisdiction of the newly operationalized Police Regional Office–Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR).

If their figures were included, total gun ban violators in the region would have reached 100.

NOcPPO recorded 31 arrests, while BCPO logged 11.

Meanwhile, police operatives seized a total of 101 firearms and seven gun replicas.

Of these, 40 firearms and three replicas were confiscated in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.

Solis said the PNP would intensify COMELEC checkpoint operations in strategic areas across the region as Election Day nears.

“We want to minimize, if not eradicate, incidents involving the use of firearms,” he said.

The heightened enforcement is part of the PNP’s campaign to ensure secure, peaceful, and orderly midterm elections in the region.

The implementation of COMELEC checkpoints and the gun ban is pursuant to Republic Act No. 7166 and COMELEC Resolution No. 11067, promulgated on Sept. 25, 2024.