Over 1,500 firearms seized in election gun ban, says PNP

More than 1,500 firearms have been confiscated by authorities during the election gun ban, according to the Philippine National Police.

In an interview Sunday morning on Super Radyo dzBB, Police Brigadier General Jean Fajardo, PNP Spokesperson, said a total of 1,563 guns have been seized nationwide as of March 7 by law enforcement agencies as part of the gun ban instituted for the 2025 national and local elections.

“Tuloy-tuloy ang ginagawa nating pagpapatupad ng gun ban,” Fajardo said.

(The PNP is continuing to enforce the gun ban.) 

Citing a report from the National Election Monitoring Action Center (NEMAC), Fajardo said there are 24 suspected election-related incidents while 11 are validated election-related incidents. 

Of the 11 validated incidents, nine are considered violent that include instances of shootings and stabbings. The two non-violent incidents in Region 6 involve malicious mischief and grave threats.

There are also 11 confirmed non-election incidents related while two are undergoing validation but could be considered as likely election-related incidents, according to NEMAC.

For possible areas of concern, the PNP is waiting for the official announcement from the Commission on Elections.

“Last week, nagkaroon ng joint meeting ang task force... Inilabas natin doon ang initial 2nd list ng mga recommended election areas of concern. Isusumite ito para magsawa ng validation,” the PNP official said.

(The task force had a joint meeting last week… We released the initial 2nd list of recommended election areas of concern. This will be submitted for validation.) 

Of the possible areas of concern, Fajardo said there were changes as there are orange category areas (areas with serious armed threats) that were shifted to yellow category (areas with a history of election-related incidents).  — RF, GMA Integrated News

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