MANILA — At least 33 persons have been arrested during the first week of implementation of the election gun ban in Metro Manila, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Sunday.

In a statement, the NCRPO said it recovered 20 firearms and 56 "other deadly weapons."

"The data reveals flagrant disregard of existing policies since we have clearly cascaded the implementation of gun ban long before we launched this operations," said NCRPO Chief Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr.

"It is not yet too late for others to heed our call and refrain from committing violations of law especially as we approach the forthcoming national and local elections 2022," he added.

Thousands of checkpoints were set up across the country last Sunday as a nationwide gun ban ordered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) took effect, marking the official start of the election period.

• Authorities set up checkpoints as election gun ban takes effect

Authorities manning the Comelec checkpoints also accosted 329 unvaccinated individuals for going outside despite being prohibited by local government units, according to the NCRPO.

The nationwide gun ban will be implemented until June 8, 2022, or nearly a month after the May 9, 2022 elections.