POLICE: CRACKDOWN ON LOOSE GUNS CONTINUES
Duterte directs PRO 7 to stop the proliferation of unlicensed firearms in the region. President also instructs police to prevent civilians from owning long and high-powered guns.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 will continue its crackdown on illegal firearms manufacturers in Danao City as local officials hope to solve the problem by legalizing the industry.
Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, PRO 7 director, said that President Rodrigo Duterte instructed them to go after the proliferation of loose firearms and prevent civilians from owning long and high-powered guns.
He said it is up to Congress to pass a law that would make the gun-making industry in Danao City legal.
“Unless if they can push for its legalization, it is still illegal as of this time,” Quenery said. “Our laws do not provide for legalization.”
Duterte, during his visit in PRO 7 headquarters last Monday, inspected more than 30 illegal firearms and gun parts seized in Barangay Masaba, Danao City.
The illegal firearms made in the city are locally known as “paltik.”
No one was caught during the operation, including the reported financier, during the joint operation by Danao City Police Station and Cebu Provincial Intelligence Branch operatives last Sunday.
A 2002 report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism showed that the “paltik” industry, which reportedly started in early 1900s in the city have helped put food on the tables of respective gunsmiths’ families. /