ILAGAN CITY, Isabela, March 18 (PIA) — Checkpoints were intensified in the province as the May 13, 2013 elections draw nearer to ensure that the conduct of elections is peacefully.

The Isabela Police Provincial Office (IPPO) ordered its 37 police stations to intensify checkpoints in their area of operations so that lawless elements who want to sow terror before, during, and after the elections will be thwarted.

Senior superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, IPPO chief, made the standing order to his police station chiefs inside the police camp to ensure a peaceful and orderly elections.

Checkpoints yielded positive results like the confiscation of a number of loose firearms from gun owners in its more than eight weeks of operations.

The police has also conducted Oplan Katok, a measure that urges gun owners with expired gun licenses to surrender to the police their firearms while processing the gun license renewal.

The Comelec has declared January 13 to June 12, 2013 as election period and the police is implementing the gun ban for the duration of election period.

The IPPO, in coordination with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Isabela, has also encouraged all local candidates to join in a peace covenant signing in their respective municipalities as another a measure to have a peaceful and orderly elections.

The IPPO and Comelec expect that Isabela will record a peaceful conduct of elections just like in the past 2010 national and elections.