PNP: Over 1,000 arrested for violating election gun ban

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Sunday it arrested over a thousand people for violating the gun ban imposed for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said 1,063 gun ban violators were arrested as of Thursday, September 28.

Of those arrested, 1,017 were civilians, while others were members of law enforcement, security guards, and elected government officials.

Authorities so far confiscated 650 firearms.

“Itong mga datos natin sa ban of firearms ay hindi lamang sa Comelec checkpoints nahuhuli. Kasama na rin diyan ang mga suspects na subject natin sa police operations,” Fajardo said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(Violators of the firearms ban were not the only ones caught at Comelec checkpoints. Also caught were suspects who were the subjects of police operations.)

The election period and the prohibition on the bearing, carrying, or transporting of firearms and other deadly weapons and the employment or engagement of the services of security personnel or bodyguards was set from August 28 to November 29.

The 2023 BSKE will be held on October 30. — DVM, GMA Integrated News