CABANATUAN CITY – A few weeks before the barangay elections, the police have netted at least 27 different kinds of firearms in various checkpoints and service of warrants as about 100 villages are being closely watched due to expected intense contest among aspirants.
Senior Supt. Crizaldo Nieves, Nueva Ecija police director, said that among the confiscated weapons were M-16 Armalite rifle, cal. 45 pistols, revolvers, cal. 9mm pistol, a cal. 25 pistol and several rounds of various ammunition.
Al least 22 persons were arrested in Comelec checkpoints set up at random in strategic places, Nieves said.
“We will continue running after all these people who would cause distraction to the election,” Nieves said.
On Thursday, operatives of the provincial public safety company arrested a certain Arnold Nagayo,47, of Barangay Malapit, San Isidro, Nueva Ecija for alleged possession of an M-16 rifl e, two cal. 45 pistols, one .9 mm pistol and a cal. 22.
The search on Nagayo’s residence was conducted on the strength of a warrant issued by Gapan City Regional trial Court Judge Celso Baguio, police said.
Nueva Ecija, a traditional election hot spot, has a total of 849 barangays. At least 28 villages in the province were placed under watchlist in 2010, 17 of which under Category 1 and 11 under Category 2. Under Category 1 were areas with a history of election-related violence in previous elections.
Category 2, on the other hand, includes places where there have been reported activities or sightings of communist rebels. Nieves earlier relieved Supt. Bernard Orig as chief of Gapan City police in the aftermath of killings that marred the city in the past few weeks. He was replaced by Supt. Dionisio Ynigo.
An inquiry by the provincial board headed by Vice Gov. Jose Gay Padiernos showed that Gapan police recorded four high-profile killings in over two months.
These include the attack on Emerson Pascual where four persons, including a rookie policeman, were killed and the gun attack on town councilor Danilo de Guzman last August 31 and the failed attempt on the city election officer who was wounded in an ambush staged by motorcycle riding gunmen in Jaen town on August 23.
“We have been preparing for the barangay elections since four months ago,” Nieves said, saying police continue to run after illegal firearms.
