8 arrested for violating gun ban in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Lawmen arrested in the past four days eight people in Maguindanao province for carrying guns amid a ban being imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The nationwide restriction on carrying of firearms, which started January 10, is meant to ensure peaceful elections in May 2016.

Senior Superintendent Nikson Muksan, Maguindanao’s provincial police director, on Thursday said the latest arrest involved a security guard named Jonathan Jovellano.

He was intercepted at a police checkpoint in Barangay Landasan in Parang town, while on his way home carrying an M16 assault rifle.

The first Maguindanao resident to be arrested for violation of the gun ban was Mike Upam Datukaka of Kabuntalan town, from whom policemen confiscated a .45 caliber pistol hidden in the utility box of his motorcycle.

Six more were arrested in one operation after another in the towns of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan, both in the second district of Maguindanao.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said he was elated with the efficiency of the provincial police in enforcing the gun ban.

Mangudadatu said local government units in the province, which has 36 towns, have actively been helping the police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division address the unauthorized carrying of guns during the election period.