ILOILO CITY – Police have implemented a gun ban in Kalibo, the provincial capital of Aklan, for the 2024 Ati-Atihan Festival this week.
The Aklan Police Provincial Office suspended the Permits to Carry Firearms Outside of Residence from January 15 to 21 for the event.
SECURITY forces for the 2024 Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo town, Aklan province attend the send-off ceremony on January 16. (PNP Aklan)
Police Col. Victor Romanillos Jr., Aklan police chief, said this is one of the key security measures implemented for the country’s “Mother of All Festivals.”
The police request was backed with a resolution approved by the the Sangguniang Bayan of Kalibo.
The APPO held a send-off ceremony for more than 2,000 personnel comprising security forces in the Ati-Atihan Festival in Camp Martelino, the Aklan provincial police headquarters, in Kalibo on Tuesday, January 16.
Most of them are policemen from various units of APPO and they were augmented by the Police Regional Office-6, Philippine Army, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and various force multipliers such as barangay tanods (watchmen) and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.