PNP abandons practice of sealing cops' gun muzzles during the holidays

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday said that the organization would no longer seal the gun muzzles of their personnel during the holiday season.

“We have no directive but basically we will not do that anymore because we give our trust to our people,” PNP Deputy Chief for Operations Lieutenant General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan in a presser.

“Mahirap naman po na hindi natin pagkatiwalaan yung tao natin,” he added.

The PNP had previously adopted the practice of taping the gun muzzles of police officers' weapons to discourage against celebratory gunfire during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

However, the last time the PNP had sealed police officers' weapons was during the 2014-2015 holiday season. 

Nevertheless, the PNP's policy against celebratory gunfire remained, with Cascolan warning that if police officers failed to address indiscriminate firing complaints within 24 hours, they would be dismissed.

“One- strike policy will be applied to all district commanders and chiefs of police who will fail to take appropriate action to solve these cases within the span of 24 hours,” he said. — Joviland Rita/DVM, GMA News