PNP’s ‘Oplan Katok’ unnecessary, has chilling effect – poll watchdog

 (INQUIRER FILE PHOTLO / RICHARD A. REYES)

MANILA, Philippines —The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) door-to-door crackdown against illegal firearms amid the election gun ban is “unnecessary” and may even send a chilling effect to the public, a poll watchdog said on Friday.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao slammed PNP’s “Oplan Katok”, which refers to a door-to-door operation conducted by the police to ask citizens with unregistered firearms to renew their licenses and encourage them to surrender their firearms for safekeeping. 

 “There’s no legitimate reason to go house to house,” Arao said over the phone.

“Or if they want to do house to house, they have to follow the due process; there has to be a very, very clear search warrant.”

“There is a chilling effect whenever the police, unintentional or not, would suddenly visit our supposed safe spaces. So there should be other ways for the police to secure or implement peace and order.”

 Arao then backed Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia’s call on PNP  to suspend the “Oplan Katok” throughout the election period until June 12.

The PNP is a deputized agency of Comelec during the election period, which means it has a power to exercise direct supervision and control over the police required by law to perform duties relative to the conduct of elections. 

“We can understand where chairperson Garcia is coming from,” Arao said.

 “The problem with the police is that we have trust issues with them,” he noted. “It’s not just because of Tokhang,” he added.