Gun owners given six-month amnesty to register, renew licenses

CEBU, Philippines – Police Regional Office-7 director Lani-O Nerez announced yesterday that gun owners are given a six-month amnesty period, which started last Wednesday, to register or renew the licenses of their loose firearms.

For unregistered firearms, a registrant should pay P150 for license fee and P500 for administrative fee while P350 shall be paid for ballistic test and stencil training, making the overall payment to amount to P1,000.

In renewing a firearm license, P150 should be paid as license fee plus the administrative fee of P500.

Supt. Jacinto Cesar, regional chief of Firearms and Explosive Division, said that before one can avail of the registration, he should be first and foremost, qualified to carry the weapon and meet the requirements.

The requirements for unregistered firearms include a duly accomplished application form, ballistic test and stencil tracing of firearm with Order of Payment (OP) and Special Bank Receipt (SBR), OP and SBR of firearms license fee, authenticated copies of either birth certificate, marriage contract, passport, any official documents showing proof of identity, any proof of billing, barangay clearance, and police clearance.

Upon payment of ballistics and firearms fee, the applicant submits his firearm to the nearest crime laboratory office.

Nerez said they come up with the program after attending the recently held national summit on firearms control.

He cited that there are around 52,000 loose firearms listed in Central Visayas and 1.2 million nationwide. With the program, he said they expect their accomplishments to increase.

PRO-7 targets to reduce the number of loose firearms to three percent every month. —Niña G. Sumacot/WAB (THE FREEMAN)