By Jennifer P. Rendon
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 6’s aggressive campaign against loose firearms has resulted in the arrest of 358 persons during the first six months of the year.
The series of operations also led to the confiscation of 2,112 assorted firearms and 316 explosives.
The operations are part of “Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang (TKAL),” a PRO-6 initiative aimed at revitalizing the campaign against criminality, specifically targeting the proliferation of loose firearms.
The effort employs both a soft-hand approach, known as ‘Tokhang Panagbalay,’ and an iron-hand approach, involving strict law enforcement through focused police operations.
It was gathered that 414 firearms were confiscated through the iron-hand approach, while 1,698 were seized through the soft-hand approach. The latter includes deposited, abandoned, and surrendered firearms.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOcPPO) again topped the number of confiscated firearms with 653, followed by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) with 367; Antique Police Provincial Office (AntPPO) with 259; Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6 (RMFB6) with 236; Capiz Police Provincial Office (CPPO) with 208; Aklan Police Provincial Office (AkPPO) with 205; Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) with 92; Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) with 60; and Guimaras Police Provincial Office (GPPO) with 32.
In terms of arrests, NOcPPO arrested 125 persons; Iloilo PPO with 84; Capiz PPO with 51; Bacolod City PO with 26; Antique PPO with 24; Iloilo City PO with 19; Aklan PPO with 15; Guimaras PPO with nine; and RFMB-6 with five arrests.
Meanwhile, of the 316 explosives recovered, 100 were confiscated through the iron-hand approach and 216 through the soft-hand approach, with NOcPPO registering the highest number at 118; Iloilo PPO with 60; Antique PPO with 49; Aklan PPO with 40; Capiz PPO with 28; Bacolod City PO with 11; Iloilo City PO with five; RMFB-6 with four; and Guimaras PPO with one.
Brigadier General Jack Wanky, Western Visayas police chief, lauded the efforts of the different police units across the region for accounting for these loose firearms, explosives, and the corresponding arrests made.
“Your individual contributions are commendable. These efforts will prevent the occurrence of crimes using firearms. Despite this feat, I urge you to continue to account for the remaining loose firearms in the region,” he said.
Wanky also appealed to holders of unlicensed firearms to surrender or deposit them at the nearest police stations.
