Gun ban offender in Maguindanao del Norte jailed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A police team clamped down on Tuesday, January 21, a motorcycle rider who attempted to get through a checkpoint in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao with an unlicensed .38 revolver in violation of the ban on carrying of firearms by the Commission on Elections.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Wednesday, January 22, that they are now in custody of the 25-year-old Ryan Inog Bayao, to be prosecuted for illegal possession of firearm and breach of Comelec’s gun ban, meant to ensure peaceful elections in May 2025.

Bayao was intercepted by a team under Lt. Col. Esmael Madin of the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office and personnel of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station led by Lt. Amerhan Isnain at a highway in Barangay Capiton, riding a motorcycle, on his way somewhere.

Policemen flagged him down only for a routine inspection but immediately cuffed and detained him instead when they found a .38 caliber revolver and several gauge 12 shotgun shells in the utility box of his motorcycle.

Macapaz said Bayao failed to show a license for his gun and a document from the Comelec allowing him to carry it outside of his residence.