ILOILO City – Twenty loose firearms – unlicensed and with expired licenses – were either seized or turned over to the police station in Pototan, Iloilo.
Of the 20, five were long firearms, data from the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) showed.
According to Chief Inspector Ronnie Brillo, Pototan police chief, days before the launching of PRO-6’s “Tokhang Kontra Ginadumili-an nga Pusil” last week his men already started informing gun holders through barangay officials about the need to surrender their unlicensed guns and those with expired licenses.
Holders of unlicensed guns face a charge for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Of the 20 guns now in the possession of the Pototan police, Brillo said, 13 had expired licenses while seven were paltik or homemade and thus unregistered.
“The owners could get their firearms back after they have renewed their gun licenses,” he said.
According to the PRO-6, there were an estimated 77,000 loose firearms in Western Visayas and 18,000 of these were in the possession of criminals such as guns-for-hire.
“I expect more guns to be turned over to us,” said Brillo.
Superintendent John Bulalacao, regional police director, said many owners of loose guns in the region were politicians and businessmen.
Policemen would be knocking on the doors of these gun owners and remind them to renew their licenses, he said.
The law defines a loose gun as “an unregistered firearm, an obliterated or altered firearm, firearm which has been lost or stolen, illegally manufactured firearms, registered firearms in the possession of an individual other than the licensee and those with revoked licenses in accordance with the rules and regulations.”/PN
