Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has warned police commanders in election hot spots areas across the country that they would be relieved from their posts should they fail to account for loose firearms in their jurisdiction.

It would be after October 31 this year that Verzosa will decide who among the police commanders in hot spot areas would go and would be retained based on the review of accomplishments that would be conducted since the PNP formally launched the nationwide gun control in August, said Senior Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman.

Espina said the warning was enclosed in the memorandum issued by Verzosa to all police commanders which also included the estimated number of loose firearms for every town and province as well as the target accomplishment of police commanders every month.

“We are doing this because based on our records, most of the election- related violence that occurred in past elections involved the use of loose firearms. We hope to prevent this by being aggressive in this campaign,” said Espina.

Presently, the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao in Mindanao; Samar in the Visayas; and, Nueva Ecija, Abra, and Masbate in Luzon are included in the initial election immediate area of concern based on the assessment from the two past elections.

Some 1.1 million loose firearms — 10 percent of them are in the hands of terrorist and rebels groups and the other 90 percent either loose firearms or guns with expired licenses — are being accounted by the PNP in the span of three years.

While top police officials admitted that it would take sometime before the 1.1 million loose guns are accounted, Espina said that what is important is for police commanders to at least comply with the mandatory three percent reduction every month.

“So for instance, there are 100 loose firearms in Abra, then the police commanders must ensure that he would account for three percent of the number every month. That is our policy on this program,” said Espina.

But Espina emphasized that the three percent rule does not apply only by volume on every town or provinces. He explained that police commanders must see to it that he would account for three percent by category of the 1.1 million loose guns.

As such, Espina said that police commanders should account for three percent under the category of unregistered firearms, another three percent under the category of guns with expired licenses, another three percent under the category of firearms in the hands of threat groups and so on.