Glitch hits PNP’s gun registration system

MANILA, Philippines — A computer glitch has affected the firearm registration system of the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) of the Philippine National Police, an official said yesterday.

The problem started last Monday wherein the list of firearms owned by licensed gun owners doubled, FEO director Col. Paul Kenneth Lucas said.

Lucas said the computer glitch came out during the consolidation of three systems that were developed in 2004, 2008 and 2017.

“Sa kagustuhan natin pag-isahin para mapabilis yung pagproseso natin, nagkaroon tayo ng migration (In our desire to consolidate to make processing faster, we conducted a migration),” he said in an interview over dzBB.

However, the migration also transferred all registration data, including firearms previously owned by gun owners.

The FEO has repaired 90 percent of the glitch as of 6 a.m. yesterday. Lucas said their information technology experts are working on repairing the remaining 10 percent.

Lucas said they are careful with the repairs as running the system during daytime, when users are more active, could affect previous repairs.

There are at least 4.12 millions firearms registered with the FEO while around 1.7 million are considered as loose guns, Lucas said.

Lucas assured licensed gun owners they have nothing to worry about as their files will return to normal.