“Our concern is the retroactive application of this. This requirement should only cover for new applicants and not the existing firearms owners,” said Ernesto Tabujara III, head of the Peaceful Responsible Owners of Guns (PROGUN).
A provision of the implementing rules and regulation (IRR) for Republic Act 10591 states that in place of a gun license, which will no longer be allowed, gun owners and buyers should secure first from the PNP Firearms and Explosive Office (PNP-FEO) a License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF).
Under the IRR, which was issued in May by the Philippine National Police (PNP), the LTOPF will be a requirement in registering firearms.
Tabujara said the provision is “unconstitutional,” adding “[I]t is not right to retroactively implement this to cover existing gun owners.”
“Some of us are registered gun owners for 10 to 20 years. I think existing gun owners should not be subjected to this,” he said.
The group is set to question the IRR in court as, according to Tabujara, they were not consulted by the PNP during its drafting.
“We’ve been trying our best to tell the PNP to give us the chance with our suggestion but we were never given a chance to be heard, we were not allowed to be heard,” Tabujara said.
“As such, PROGUN shall be questioning the LTOPF requirement in court, among other items in the IRR of RA 10591,” the group said in a statement posted on its website.
RA 10591 is the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition.
Based on the record of PNP-FEO, there are 1.7 million registered guns in the country, with 600,000 of them set to expire this year.
The PNP-FEO earlier announced that it will extend until December 2015 the validity of the license of those which are set to expire this year to give gun owners ample time to secure LTOPF. —Elizabeth Marcelo/KBK, GMA News
