MANILA — The Philippine National Police on Thursday said gun owners need not be apprehensive over a glitch in the firearm registration system experienced in the past few days.

“As of 6 a.m., kaninang umaga, according sa IT experts natin, meron na silang naayos na 90 percent. So, meron pang naiwan na 10 percent. 'Yun 'yung gagawin nila mamayang gabi. And hopefully bukas ng umaga maayos nila 'yan,” said Police Col. Kenneth Lucas, chief of the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office, in an interview Thursday.

He said the computer glitch came out during the migration of the old systems to the new system.

Lucas said they are currently in the process of consolidating all 3 systems under one Firearms Information Management System.

“Because dito sa FEO, meron tayong 3 system. 'Yung una is way back 2004 na-develop 'yun, 'yung 2nd is 2008 or 9, kung 'di ako nagkamali. Then 'yung latest system na ginagamit natin is nitong 2017. So, gusto sana nating pag-isahin 'yung system para mas mabilis 'yung pag-verify natin ng mga lisensiya,” said Lucas.

IT experts working on the migration said the computer system also migrated old registration data, which eventually caused the double entry of old listings of firearm.

The old lists may include firearms previously owned by registered owners but eventually transferred to another registered owner.

“So, 'pag nakikita niyo dun sa account niyo, 'pag nabubuksan niyo is nagkaroon ng parang double entry. Same make, caliber, pareho lang naman. And meron pang isang naging problema, nahigop din niya 'yung dating baril mo, dating firearm mo na nai-transfer mo sa iba,” Lucas said.

He said IT experts are almost done fixing the system, saying it will not pose any adverse effect on responsible gun owners registered on the system.

“Wala naman po. Wala po. 'Yun nga lang, medyo kinakabahan 'yung mga responsible gun owners dahil nga dun sa nangyari, dumami 'yung baril nila. So, iniisip nila baka magkakaproblema na naman sila kung paano nila tatanggalin dun sa firearm account nila,” said Lucas.

To date, there are 1,700 individuals registered with License To Own and Possess Firearms and more than 700 juridical entities, such as security agencies, the PNP-FEO said.

Across the country, PNP-FEO data indicates more than 2.3 million registered firearms. The system also listed down another 1.7 million firearms as unregistered.

Lucas said the unlicensed firearms cover those whose gun owners were already deceased or too old to renew their licenses.

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