The Civil Security Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-CSG), is now preparing criminal and administrative charges against five policemen, including an official with a rank of major, as the crackdown against erring cops involved in fraudulent firearms registration begins.
CSG director Police Brig. Gen. Benjamin Silo, Jr. said the five policemen, mostly from the PNP Health Service, were found to have intervened on the results of the neuro-examination to ensure that some gun owners would be assured of approval for gun registration.
He said the cops are asking P30,000 to P35,000 to ensure that the gun owners who would seek their assistance would pass the neuro-examination, one of the major requirements in gun registration.
“We found out about this through our computer system and with the help of our IT (information technology) experts. We also secured the testimonies of clients being victimized by this group,” said Silo.
“Right now, we are filing admin and criminal cases against them before the Office of the Ombudsman. We also recommended they should be placed on floating,” he added.
The CSG has started the crackdown on fraudulent means of securing License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) and firearms registration as part of the measures to ensure that only qualified people would be allowed to own guns.
It started from an operation in Rizal where they found a gun owner who was able to secure firearms permits through fraudulent means.
“We conducted our investigation, we backtracked and we found out the existence of this scheme,” said Silo.
While the CSG has initiated programs to make it comfortable for gun owners to register and renew gun permits, Silo emphasized that this is not done at the expense of the rigif requirements to secure gun permits.
“We are very particular on how it affects public safety. If a psychotic is able to have his gun registered, imaging the danger he can give to the public. Imagine if for another instance a drug dependent is able to secure a gun permit, you know how big the possible effect of this is to society,” said Silo.
Silo said they are now conducting a thorough investigation to identify other policemen who may be involved in the illegal activity and for how long this modus operandi has been going on.