Gamboa wants upgraded PNP database of gun owners

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa is calling for an upgraded database of the country’s police force to improve slug matching procedure and track the stray bullet of irresponsible gun owners.

In an interview with dzMM, Gamboa explained that information on “slug matching” is not updated despite PNP’s existing ballistic information system.

“Problema sa database, matagal na kasing nagkaroon ng ballistic information system ang PNP pero hindi pa ito na-u-update, yung slug (matching),” Gamboa said when asked about issues in tracking the source of slugs.

(The problem with the database, the PNP already has a ballistic information system but its slug matching process is not yet updated.)

PNP’s current database also had difficulties in presenting the “specific match” of recovered slug or shell, Gamboa also noted.

“Kasi hindi siya magbibigay ng specific match talaga. More or less, itong slug na ito yung database na ito merong sampu for it to be determined yung sampu… for it to be a valid evidence in court… iisa-isahin ito. Wala tayong machine na (magdetermine) yung exact na comparison so iisa-isahin pa ito,” he said.

(There is no specific match. More or less this slug will be matched with 10 other guns, for it to be a piece of valid evidence in court, they will have to evaluate these ten records. We don’t have a machine to determine the specific match of the slug.)

This was asked amid the current records of indiscriminate gun firing during the New Year revelry where 18 people were already arrested while 7 were injured.