PNP to bid out contract for gun license delivery

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) will bid out the contract for the delivery firearm licenses nationwide.

Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., PNP deputy chief for administration, said there is no schedule yet for the bidding but two companies – LBC and 2Go – have expressed intention to join the process.

“We are now in the process of finalizing the bidding rules,” said Rojas, chairman of the PNP Special Bids and Awards Committee.

Earlier, Werfast Inc., a delivery service company commissioned by the PNP to deliver gun licenses, had backed out of the deal after being criticized for overpriced and delayed delivery of firearm licenses. 

Prior to the bidding, Rojas said they intend to talk to gun dealers and other stakeholders to arrive at a common ground for the efficient delivery of gun licenses.

He said the hiring of a courier service aims to curb the proliferation of loose firearms nationwide.

“We want gun dealers and other stakeholders to forward to us their inputs for the PNP to come out with a courier service that would deliver gun licenses efficiently and in a record time,” Rojas told The Star.

PNP records showed there are at least 600,000 loose firearms in the country.

Rojas urged the Coalition of Filipino Consumers, Gun Owners in Acting (GO Act), Peaceful Respondent Owners of Guns Inc. (PRO Gun) and other gun dealers and stakeholders to join the PNP’s war against loose firearms.

Go Act and PRO Gun have questioned the legality of a new law regulating the rules on the issuance of gun licenses with the Supreme Court.

Earlier, PNP chief Director Alan Purisima said the courier service will greatly help them in their effort to curb loose firearms by delivering gun licenses directly to applicants in their exact addresses.