CDO police ‘gun for rice’ drive yields 42 firearms

THE POLICE'S  “Armas Baylo Bugas” (gun for rice) initiative here has resulted in the surrender of 42 illegal firearms this month alone.

Maj. Evan Viñas, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) spokesperson, said 18 different types of undocumented firearms were turned over to the 10 police stations here from May 22 to May 29.

In an interview Tuesday, Viñas said the campaign aims to convince gun holders to surrender their illegal firearms in exchange for 25 kilos of rice.

Twenty-four other firearms were initially turned over to the COCPO headquarters during the first week of the program implementation on May 6, he said. Since then, the local police has already provided 1,050 kilos of rice.

Aside from the "gun for rice" program, Viñas said COCPO is also implementing "Oplan Katok" for gun holders with expired licenses to combat the proliferation of loose firearms in this city.

Lt. Col. Surki Sereñas, the COCPO’s deputy director for administration, said the city has about 2,000 firearms with expired licenses.

“But we can’t provide definitive numbers because the data has been changed every day. Some firearms will expire and some firearms have been renewed,” Sereñas said. (Franck Dick Rosete)