ILOILO City – The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) has ordered all unit commanders and municipal police chiefs across the region to strictly implement the Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang (TKAL).
Police Brigadier General Jack Wanky’s order comes after receiving report that there were a total of 30,838 loose firearms, or those with expired licenses, in Western Visayas as of March 2024.
“We need to intensify our campaign against loose firearms to avoid being used by criminals in committing crimes,” Wanky said.
Iloilo Province has the highest number of loose firearms at 6,427, followed by Negros Occidental with 6,257.
Other loose firearms were in Bacolod City (5,171), Iloilo City (5,063), Capiz (3,688), Aklan (1,873), Antique (1,811), and Guimaras (548).
“Despite our region being peaceful and crime incidents are manageable, yet we need to be vigilant and continue our campaign against loose firearms and fugitives. Our men are doing well, but they need to do more,” Wanky said.
TKAL, previously ” Tokhang Kontra Guinadili-an nga Pusil,” was relaunched in 2019. This aims to combat the proliferation of loose firearms and to curb crimes with the use of firearms.
It also seeks to neutralize private armed groups, motorcycle-riding suspects, riding-in-tandem suspects, gun-for-hire groups, and other groups.
Latest record from PRO-6 showed that a total of 998 loose firearms and 122 explosives were seized and 182 individuals were arrested in the first quarter of 2024.
Of the 998, 189 were confiscated through police operations while 809 were either deposited or surrendered.
Records further showed that the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office recorded the most number of confiscated firearms at 329, followed by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (188), Antique Police Provincial Office (105), Capiz Police Provincial Office (101), Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6 (96), Aklan Police Provincial Office (92), Bacolod City Police Office (41), Iloilo City Police Office (34), and Guimaras Police Provincial Office (12)./PN
