A stern warning of relentless operations against possession of unlicensed firearms has impelled 1,001 gun holders to renew their firearm licenses.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, regional police director, said that it is considered a headway development, since the renewal happened in a two-month period.

"Lubos po tayong nagagalak sa malaking improvement na ito at sa matiwasay na pagtangkilik ng publiko sa ating programa laban sa loose firearms," he said.

As of August 31, Police Regional Office (PRO) VI pegged the number of loose guns in Western Visayas at 33,068. Of the said number, 29,292 are individual firearms while the rest were juridical firearms.

But with the recent activity, the figures went down to 28,760 individual firearms and 3,307 juridical firearms.

"Nagpapatunay lamang po ito sa mabilis na pagtugon ng ating mga kababayan sa ating panawagan," Cruz said.

He also projected that the number would plummet significantly before the year ends.

Earlier, PRO6 also reported that 90 persons were arrested for illegal possession of firearms in a span of two months.

Cruz re-launched the campaign against firearms with expired licenses few weeks after he assumed the post as the PRO-6 director.

Two weeks ago, he formed Task Force "Armas" to spearhead the campaign on accounting the more than 33,000 loose guns in Region 6.

Headed by Senior Supt. Wesley Baragyuga, deputy PRO-6 director for operations, the task force until December 31 this year to bring down the statistics on loose firearms.

The task force reported 1,023 house-to-house visitations to remind and provide assistance to owners of loose firearms.

"Umaasa po tayo na sa mga susunod na araw mapapababa pa po natin ang bilang ng mga expired licenses at lalo pa po nating mapaigting ang kampanya natin laban sa kriminalidad," Cruz said.*