• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang (TKAL) campaign of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, aimed at addressing the proliferation of loose firearms in the province, has yielded 567 firearms.
TKAL is an initiative of Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6), implemented by all police units in Western Visayas, towards a revitalized campaign against criminality, which PBrig. Gen. Leo Francisco, regional police director, attributes to the reduction of crimes perpetrated with the use of firearms.
The soft hand approach of the campaign, or Tokhang Panagbalay, is a courteous way of appealing to the community to support and cooperate by surrendering or depositing their firearms with expired licenses, pending renewal of their firearm licenses.
On the other hand, the iron hand approach, is strict law enforcement or Focused- Police Operation, through the application and implementation of search warrants.
From August last year, to February 28, the PRO6 reports to have accounted for 1,760 firearms, through the use of soft and iron hand approaches, its records showed.
NOCPPO accounted for 567 guns, of which 524 were surrendered to various police stations for safekeeping purposes.
Francisco said that the NOCPPO innovative “Armas Baylo Bugas” approach in the recovery of firearms in Negros Occidental, has contributed immensely to the overall success of the PRO6 campaign against loose firearms.
“The intensified campaign against loose firearms is instrumental in the significant decrease of crime incidents, particularly murder, homicide, physical injuries, and threats perpetrated with the use of firearms, and has improved the peace and order situation in Western Visayas,” he stressed.*
