By Mar Gabriel
Eagle News Service
The election gun ban in connection with the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections begins early Saturday, April 14, at exactly 12:01 a.m.
This means that all permits to carry firearms outside residences and permits to travel were suspended.
Only uniformed policemen, soldiers and other members of enforcement units are exempted from the gun ban, which coincides with the start of the election period.
“(There will be) joint (Philippine National Police-Commission on Elections) checkpoints against loose firearms,” Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, PNP spokesperson, said.
Bulalacao said authorities will strictly follow the plain view doctrine in searching vehicles in checkpoints.
The doctrine provides that objects inadvertently falling in the plain view of uniformed personnel are subject to seizure and may be introduced in evidence.
Meanwhile, 5,744 barangays in the country have made it to the PNP’s election watchlist.
Over 200 of these–or 271—were classified as a Category 3, which means there is election-related violence and there are private armed groups in those areas.
Of the 271, majority are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
There will be personnel and election officers deployed in those areas, Bulalacao said.
The PNP is also monitoring the 78 active private armed groups in the country, 72 of which are found in the ARMM.
Of the remaining, two were in the Bicol Region, and one each was in Region 1, Region 3, Region 4a and Cordillera.