PNP to go after gun registration fixers

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) will deploy “covert security personnel” to arrest fixers in the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) at Camp Crame starting today, an official said yesterday.

“We will not tolerate the illegal activities of fixers,” Chief Superintendent Melito Mabilin, who heads the Civil Security Group (CSG), which is tasked to process the licensing of firearms across the country.

“We will be making arrests and filing cases in court” over the next few days, he added.

The FEO charges P1,600 for a gun license but fixers collect P7,500 for each firearm they register, according to reports.

Mabilin admitted to receiving reports that some gun owners opt to pay “fixers” for the convenience of not having to personally appear before the FEO to register the firearm and subject themselves to neuropsychiatric and drug tests.

The PNP urged gun owners to transact directly with FEO personnel.

By the numbers

Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., the PNP’s deputy chief for administration, claimed that at least 80 percent of the firearms listed at the FEO are registered under fake names and addresses. There are about 1.7 million registered guns in the FEO.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima “wanted applicants to show up personally before the FEO in Camp Crame to make sure that the gun license is registered to the right person and his exact address,” Rojas said in an interview.

According to Mabilin, the campaign against fixers is in consonance with Purisima’s directive to cleanse the FEO database and curb the proliferation of loose firearms in the country. In a recent press briefing, Purisima said there are more or less 600,000 loose firearms all over the country.

Rojas said the cleansing process being undertaken by Purisima at the FEO include the campaign against fixers.

Some sectors have criticized Purisima’s decision to close all satellite offices of the CSG, but Rojas defended the move as a way of preventing the proliferation of loose firearms.

The PNP also decided to have firearms licenses delivered to the registered residence of gun owners to ensure they are not fictitious.

FEO head Chief Superintendent Louie Oppus said the centralized gun licensing is only temporary. “It is not to make a life of gun holders miserable but make the records (gun licenses) right. We are cleansing the records of registered gun holders. It is the right of the government to implement the law.”

Since 2011, the PNP has implemented Oplan Katok, a program designed to remind delinquent gun holders to renew the registration of their firearms or be charged for possessing loose firearms.

Through Oplan Katok, the PNP discovered that thousands of individuals registered their guns using fictitious names and addresses.