The Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office on Friday reported that nine persons have been arrested across the Province since the ban on the carrying of firearms and other deadly weapons was imposed by the Commission on Elections, in connection with the May 9 polls.
Lt. Col. Ruben Verbo Jr., head of the Police Community Affairs & Development Unit and public information officer of NOPPO, told the media in an interview that the suspects were arrested either at a checkpoint or during a police response operations.
The weapons seized between Jan. 10 and Feb. 1 were six firearms (four of which had ammunition), a knife, machete, and one lading, a thin bladed tool used for sugarcane harvesting.
The Comelec gun ban took effect on Jan. 9, the start of the election period.
Verbo said police operations where the firearms were confiscated included drug buy-busts, tigbakay or illegal cockfights, and during their response to calls for assistance, among others.
The joint checkpoints of the Comelec, the Philippine National Police, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, are set up in strategic locations to implement not only the gun ban but other election-related prohibitions, as well as violations of existing laws. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
