FEO to conduct nationwide caravan for gun licenses

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) is set to conduct a nationwide caravan to help facilitate the processing of applications for firearm licenses.

The PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) will spearhead the caravan, which is initially slated in the Caraga region on Sept. 2-4 at the police regional headquarters at Camp Rodriguez in Libertad, Butuan City.

In a memorandum, all public information officers were directed to disseminate information on the caravan.

The memorandum came a few days after the PNP announced that it was seeking the legal opinion of the Department of Justice on the implementation of the final gun amnesty after the six-month period provided under Republic Act 10591 lapsed.

The PNP failed to launch the final gun amnesty after the implementing rules and regulations were signed last January when the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), said Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP-Public Information Office director.

“We hope to get the DOJ opinion on the matter. The PNP has to abide by the SC ruling,” Sindac said.

The TRO covers the centralization of application and renewal of firearm licenses, the signing of a waiver by a gun license applicant that would allow PNP personnel to visit or enter his home, and the delivery of gun licenses using a private courier.

With the final gun amnesty, Sindac said gun holders will have to renew their licenses and their applications will have to be verified and processed by the FEO.

The FEO has started delivering the gun license cards of gun holders to ensure they are using their legitimate addresses.

Before the enactment of RA 10591, the FEO, through its field units, has been conducting “Oplan Katok” to account for loose firearms, or guns that were previously registered but whose registration was not updated by their owners.

Under Oplan Katok, FEO field units have visited 524,000 gun holders since December 2012, and 129,210 of them turned out to have used fictitious addresses and could not be located.

The Caraga police advised applicants to bring the results of their neuro-psychiatric and drug tests, ballistic and stencil certificate, police clearance from the PNP Directorate for Intelligence or regional intelligence division, court clearances (Sandiganbayan clearance for government officials), a copy of their birth certificate issued by the National Statistics Office, proof of billing, two government-issued ID cards, and gun safety seminar certificate.

Gun holders are also advised to bring their company ID, income tax return, copy of appointment order for government employees, retirement order, and deed of sale or donation for transfer of firearms.