With the suspension of police operations in the war on drugs, police in the Visayas and Negros are refocusing their efforts from implementing Oplan Tokhang to implementing Oplan Katok which is the police campaign against loose firearms.
This was what the provincial and regional directors of Regions 6 (Western Visayas), Region 7 (Central Visayas), Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), and Region 18 (Negros Integrated Region) agreed upon during the two-day consultation workshop of the PNP reorganization and modernization plan.
“(This is also) based sa instruction ng ating regional director na si Chief Supt. Noli Taliño na we will now concentrate the anti-criminality aspect. Kasi nga suspended ang Oplan Tokhang (Toktok Hangyo) (This is based on the Chief Supt. Noli Talino’s instruction to concentrate on the anti-criminality aspect because we are stopping Oplan Tokhang),” said Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief.
Oplan Katok, which was started in 2013, is a police operation, where police personnel would visit the houses of residents with expired gun licenses and those suspected to have unlicensed guns.
Doria said that it would be an intensified implementation where the target of the police would be loose firearms and firearms with expired licenses.
Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) chief, said Oplan Katok had already been there, they are just reviving it.
“Napag-usapan na balik ulit kami sa Oplan Katok. In fact, hindi naman napabayaan yan dahil naka focus tayo sa drugs operations. Bumagal lang yun (We agreed to focus again on implementing on Oplan Katok. In fact, it was not really forgotten but it was placed in the backburner because of the focus on drug operations),” Cabagnot said.
Senior Supt. Eric Noble, for his part, admitted that they might have problems in implementing Oplan Katok especially in Danao City.
Noble said that there are reports that the underground gunmaking industry of that city still existed.
He said that they would implement visiting houses in the province and he was expecting a lot of gun owners having expired licenses of their firearms in the province.
The police will ask Firearms Explosives Security Agencies and Guards Supervision (FESAGS) office the list of all gun owners.
“Tingnan natin sa listahan sino yung may firearms at expired na. And chief of police ng stations sa province, yun ang kakatok. Para busy naman sila ulit (We will look at the FESAGS list of gun owners and those with expired licenses. The police station chiefs would lead visits to these gun owners so that they would be busy again),” Noble said.