Loose firearms in WV pegged at nearly 77T
ILOILO CITY — The Police Regional Office-6 estimated a total of 76,917 loose firearms now in the hands of criminals and civilian gun owners.
Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, PRO-6 director, said there are more than 17,000 loose firearms that were never registered. “These as the ones that fell into the hands of criminal gangs,” he said.
In addition to these, about 59,000 firearms were registered but their licenses not renewed, Bulalacao said based on the data from the PNP Firearms and Explosives Offices. “The 17,000 data of loose firearms was a product of the deliberation of the different intelligence communities. These were submitted to us for police action,” he said.
To address the concern on loose firearms, PRO6 on July 23 launched the “Tokhang Kontra Ginadumili-an nga Pusil.” This is also PRO-6’s answer to the recent violent and deadly incidents with the use of firearms in the whole country and even in Western Visayas.
While there was a decrease in the total number of incidents in Western Visayas, statistics for the first semester of this year showed that there were a total of 418 incidents of murder, homicide, physical injuries and threats, all of which were attributed to the use of firearms.
This number is on top of other crimes, using firearms, such as robbery or holdup, and alarm and scandal, among others. “These crimes can be attributed to the proliferation of loose firearms (nationwide),” Bulalacao said.
Loose firearms are those illegally-manufactured, like what is locally known as “paltik” or “pugakhang,” and those patented firearms that were registered but reported lost or stolen, as well as those acquired from various sources that have not undergone proper registration process, the top police official said.
PRO-6 has accounted for 1,433 loose firearms. Bulalacao said, “with the spike of gun-related crimes perpetrated by motorcycleriding suspects, there is a need for us to strategize, orchestrate and intensify operations in order to account and prevent occurrence of these crimes considering that the 2019 elections is fast approaching.”
The Tokhang on loose firearms will implement both the “soft-hand” and the “iron-hand” approaches.
The soft-hand approach shall be undertaken through operations via “Tokhang” or house visitations targeting suspected or validated firearm holder and the entire community before initiating appropriate police operations through the Targeted Police Operation (TPO) or the ironhand approach.
However, just like any other projects or initiatives, Bulalacao said this Tokhang on firearms initiative will not be a success without the support of the community. “We enjoin everyone to support this activity by surrendering loose firearms that have expired licenses,” he said.
Other people could also help in the campaign by reporting to the nearest police station the personalities deemed to be in possession of loose firearms.