MANILA, Philippines — Almost 19,000 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police personnel have not yet renewed their firearms so far, according to a PNP official.
In an interview with reporters yesterday, PNP Directorate for Operations chief Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco said about 9,700 PNP personnel have not renewed their licenses for firearms as of April.
Francisco added that for the AFP, 9,200 personnel have not renewed their licenses.
“So, having that number in the AFP and the PNP alone, I think we have to start telling our commanders to check on their personnel to renew their firearms,” he told reporters.
The PNP official noted that among all firearm holders in the country, about 600,000 have unrenewed firearms.
“So, our focus now is for AFP and PNP personnel to renew their unrenewed firearms, so we could be models,” Francisco said.
“We have to be models, so our civilian firearm holders would be encouraged to renew their firearms,” he added.