The Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang (TKAL) campaign of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, which aims to address the proliferation of loose firearms in the province, yielded 567 guns.
TKAL is an initiative of the Police Regional Office 6, under the leadership of P/Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, which is being implemented by all police units in Western Visayas to revitalize the campaign against criminality, and to reduce crimes perpetrated with the use of loose firearms.
The soft hand approach of the campaign, or Tokhang Panagbalay, is a courteous way of appealing to the community to support the campaign and cooperate by surrendering or depositing their firearms with expired licenses, pending renewal of their licenses.
On the other hand, the iron hand approach involves strict law enforcement or focused-police operation, through the application and implementation of search warrants.
From August 2022 to Feb. 28 this year, the PRO6 said it already accounted for 1,760 firearms, through the use of soft and iron hand approaches.
The NOCPPO accounted for 567 guns, of which 524 were surrendered to various police stations for safekeeping.
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’s campaign against loose firearms./GB
