Ebdane terminates services of printer of firearms permits

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. ordered yesterday the termination of the services of Kymtech, the company responsible for manufacturing and printing PNP firearms licenses, permits and identification cards.

Ebdane’s move came after Noel Binuya, a meat dealer from Quezon City, confessed involvement in the circulation of fake permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) ID cards, which mostly fall in the hands of gun enthusiasts in Binondo.

In his directive to Senior Superintendent Gerry Barias, chief of the Firearms and Explosives Division (FED) of the PNP, Ebdane recalled the authority given to Kymtech to manufacture PTCFOR ID cards.

The anomaly was unearthed after Superintendent Ricardo Marquez, head of the PTCFOR secretariat recovered four PTCFOR documents issued under mysterious circumstances.

Ebdane appealed to all holders of the fake cards to surrender the documents, which were reportedly paid for by the owners by as much as P12,000 to P16,000.

According to Montenegro, Binuya’s confession did not set aside the responsibility of Bryan Keith Morato, one of the owners of Kymtech and the person in-charge of printing the PTCFOR ID cards. He said Morato’s strong denial that he had no knowledge of the anomaly does not inspire belief.

"For one thing, Morato and his company Kymtech is indebted to Binuya," he said, citing reports circulating at Camp Crame that it was through Binuya’s intercession at the office of Ebdane that clinched the deal for Kymtech.

Earlier, Morato claimed that no written contract was constituted between his company and the PNP. He said it was a simple verbal authority from the PNP that Kymtech was allowed to manage the printing and production of the firearms and PTCFOR ID cards.

Ebdane ordered Montenegro to conduct follow-up investigations into the anomaly and unmask its mastermind.