A total of 2,313 people have been arrested so far for violating the election gun ban, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Sunday. In a statement, the PNP said 2,249 of those apprehended were civilians, 40 security guards, 14 police officers, and 10 military personnel. It added that a total of 2,209 police operations yielded 1,785 firearms, 10,157 pieces of ammunition, and 826 deadly weapons. Citing its latest data, the PNP said the top five regions in terms of the number of arrested violators are the National Capital Region with 854, followed by Calabarzon (250); Central Visayas (241); Central

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said it will put “provincial hubs” to address technical difficulties during the May 9 elections. During Saturday evening’s podcast of the Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security-10 (CORDS-10), Comelec-10 Director Francisco Pobe said these hubs will enable technical personnel to immediately attend to possible concerns with regard to the operation of the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs). “We also established the National Technical Center in provincial hubs that will handle problems or troubleshoot defective machines,” he said. Pobe said some VCMs have been deployed since March 1 to train teachers who will become members

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is seeking the support of development partner World Bank to push several infrastructure projects for the sustainable growth of Sulu province in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). DPWH Undersecretary and “Build, Build, Build” chief implementer Emil K. Sadain said initial talks have been made with World Bank officials for financing investment on rehabilitation/upgrading and asset preservation of pavement condition to facilitate road accessibility improvements, and to help address the inadequacy of water supply in Sulu. Sadain, DPWH Secretary Roger G. Mercado’s focal person for BARMM infra projects, and Mr.

Social Security System (SSS) president and chief executive officer Michael G. Regino has announced that the Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) operations has resumed in the National Capital Region (NCR) starting April 1. Subject to the first operations in the NCR are 10 non-compliant employers in Manila with combined contribution delinquencies estimated to be about PHP26.26 million, composed of PHP9.12 million past-due contributions and PHP17.14 million penalties, affecting around 95 SSS members. “These employers were found to be delinquent in the payment of contributions even prior to the pandemic. As a general rule, we have given them 15 calendar days

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III clarified on Sunday that only select local leaders of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) already endorsed presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate Sara Duterte. Sotto, who is also the NPC chair and running mate of independent presidential aspirant Sen. Panfilo Lacson, likewise expressed disappointment on the report claiming that NPC has already endorsed the UniTeam tandem. “Let me make this clear: The NPC has not endorsed any presidential candidate. While regional and/or provincial chapters may have their preferred list of candidates, such choices do not reflect the NPC as a

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said Sunday the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) complied with the protocols as stated in its manual of operation before the interview of retired Army general Jovito Palparan was approved. Palparan was inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City all throughout the interview. Hence, no prior leave was necessary,a statement of the NTF-ELCAC Legal Cooperation Cluster (LCC) said, referring to the recent interview of Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy and Franco Baranda aired over SMNI’s “Laban Kasama ang Bayan (LAKAB)” program on March 30 which delved into