ILOILO City – Across Western Visayas, 238 persons were apprehended for violating the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) gun ban from Jan. 9 to yesterday, June 8, its last day.
Policemen also confiscated 137 firearms and 114 bladed weapons.
Negros Occidental had the most number of arrested violators (80), followed by Iloilo province (42) and Aklan (28).
“That’s the result of 223 total operations conducted,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Solis, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
One of those caught was Staff Sergeant Gerwin Catolico, a gun-running suspect, Solis added.
Catolico was arrested in an entrapment operation in Barangay Estefania, Bacolod City on May 1.
Catolico, 36, of Barangay Granada, Bacolod City, was detailed as investigator at Bacolod City Police Office’s Police Station 2. He was arrested by a team from the Philippine National Police’s Integrity Monitoring and Enhancement Group – Visayas Field Unit (Imeg-VFU).
Catolico faces administrative and criminal case charges./PN
