MANILA – The Philippine National Police has ordered a massive crackdown on gun-for-hire and gunrunning syndicates.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde gave the instruction to all police forces in light of the series of deaths of local government officials.
There may be gun-for-hire groups and gunrunning syndicates “directly attributed” to the recent shooting incidents, Albayalde told a news conference on Monday.
“As of this time we are looking into 78 groups, mostly in Mindanao,” he added. “I am reiterating our plea to everyone that kung meron silang alam na threat sa kanilang buhay, they have to inform us.”
At the same time Albayalde ordered police officers to launch “early security measures” for the mid-term elections scheduled on the second Monday of May 2019.
The command group and the regional directors must “review and launch early security measures” ahead of the mid-term elections, he said.
“That includes intensifying police visibility, random checkpoints and focused law enforcement operations to prevent the commission of election-related violence,” said Albayalde./PN
