THE nationwide gun ban in relation to the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections ended last Nov. 29 with 2,672 violators arrested since it was imposed last Aug. 28, 2023.

The next step challenge for the police force is how to ensure that those arrested will be prosecuted and pay for their crime.

There are no official government records on how many gun ban offenders apprehended by the police force since the Philippine National Police (PNP) was established in 1991.

However, since 1991, the PNP had fully enforced the nationwide ban on the unauthorized carrying of firearms during national and presidential elections as well as mid-term elections and Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

If police have apprehended an average of 2,000 gun ban offenders during the two major elections starting from 1991 to 2022, there could be more than 24,000 violators already.

The question is how many of them were convicted by the court.

Some legal luminaries brought these to the attention of the Journal Group.

One of them took place in August 2008 when the Supreme Court junked a case for illegal possession of firearms filed against a man in May 1998.

The High Tribunal reportedly reversed the conviction of the gun ban offender by a Laguna court and later the Court of Appeals and cancelled his over 2-year prison sentence as well the P15,000 fine.

It turned out that the Supreme Court ruled that the man could not be held liable for illegal possession of a firearm since he did not commit any other crime.

PNP spokesperson Colonel Jean S. Fajardo said that from August 28 to November 29 this year, police also confiscated 2,087 firearms.

Another 2,753 were deposited for safekeeping while 241 were surrendered by their owners during the three-month period.

She said that the all-out enforcement of the nationwide prohibition on the unauthorized carrying of firearms and other deadly weapons in public ordered by PNP chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. fully contributed to a generally peaceful BSKE.

Col. Fajardo said that during the BSKE period, the PNP recorded 331 incidents, 105 of them Validated Election-Related Incidents while 5 are Suspected ERIs. The remaining 221 were found to be Non-ERIs.

Of the 105 Validated ERIs, 57 took place in the Bangsamoro Administrative Region followed by 15 from Northern Mindanao and 6 in Eastern Visayas.

The rest are the following: 1 in the National Capital; 2 in Calabarzon; 1 in Mimaropa; 4 in Bicol; 2 in Western Visayas; 3 in Central Visayas; 2 in Western Mindanao; 1 in Soccsksargen; and 5 in Cordillera.

Col. Fajardo said those incidents left 29 people dead, 100 injured and 40 unharmed.

The official said that compared to the 2018 BSKE, there was a 162.5 percent increase in the number of ERIs in the 2022 BSKE. On the other hand, there were 57 incidents recorded during the 2013 BSKE or an 84.21 percent increase if compared to this year’s election period.

Col. Fajardo explained one of the contributory factors behind the increase in ERIs in this year’s BSKE compared to the 2018 and 2013 BSKEs is the longer election period.

This year, the election period was 94 days compared to the less than 2 months during the 2018 and 2013 BSKE.