Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez, Jr., acting chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ordered all police commanders across the country to further intensify community engagement in the campaign against loose firearms.

This, as he revealed that thousands of loose firearms and guns with expired licenses needs to be accounted for as these are one of the major instruments in the commission of crimes.

Nartatez emphasized the importance of the cooperation and assistance by the public in accounting for loose firearms, saying the people’s trust and confidence in the PNP is a major factor to ensure the success of the campaign.

“We’ve been moving around to take out illegal firearms from the communities. And it is not only the police who should be involved, even the community and all stakeholders should be involved to achieve our peace and order goal,” said Nartatez.

“This is where the community engagement should come in for this effort. Through the trust and confidence of the people to their police, they will certainly assist the police in providing information on this matter,” he added.

In a ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Tuesday, Dec. 9, around 25 firearms were turned over to the police by a gun collector.

Among those turned over were four 7.62 M14 Rifles, a 5.56 Colt M4 Rifle, four .30 High Performance Rifles (HPR), three .45 Grease Submachine Gun, a 9mm SIG Submachine Gun M10 and 12 Twelve-gauge Shotguns.

Those turned over also include 40 rounds of ammunition for 7.62; 30 rounds of ammunition for caliber 5.56; two magazines for caliber 7.62; two magazines for caliber .30; 12 rounds of 40mm Grenade Launcher Ammunition (custody of Regional EOD Canine Unit 11), and three Fragmentation Hand Grenades (custody of Regional EOD Canine Unit 11).

The 12 explosives were not included in the turnover as they remain secured under the custody of the Regional Explosives and Canine Unit 11 in Davao for disposal, as their nature prohibits air transport for safety reasons.

While the police have been aggressive in the campaign against loose firearms through operations that include serving of search warrants, Nartatez said the public’s cooperation will make the campaign more successful if they are already the ones providing information to the police.

“If it is our kababayan themselves who are providing information, then all our operations against loose firearms will be more accurate and more productive because we are talking about specific information. This means more success, especially that there are a lot of loose firearms that are yet to be accounted for,” said Nartatez.

“In the case of the 25 surrendered firearms, just imagine if these would fall in the wrong hands. This would only mean more harm and threat to the communities, through robberies, murder and other criminal incidents,” he added.

Nartatez said a strong working relationship with the people also extends to other peace and order measures with the goal of making every road, and every community safe from criminal elements.