PNP gun license delivery contract smells fishy

NOT SO fast.

MANILA, Philippines—A startup courier service firm has bagged a lucrative contract worth millions of pesos from the Philippine National Police to deliver gun licenses nationwide three months before it registered as a company in 2011, a police official privy to the deal told the Inquirer.

Werfast Documentation Agency Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) on May 25, 2011, to deliver licenses of gun owners as part of the PNP’s efforts to improve gun control measures.

However, Werfast was only incorporated in the Securities and Exchange Commission only on Aug. 10, 2011, as shown by its certification of incorporation.

Police statistics show there are about a million gun owners in the country. Werfast reportedly charges them P190 to deliver the licenses to their homes.

The police official, who requested that his name be withheld, said the company is reportedly owned by Ireno Bacolod, a retired police director who used to head the PNP Civil Security Group (CSG), the unit that has administrative supervision over the FEO.

‘Former boss’

The source claimed Bacolod was the “former boss” of PNP Director General Alan Purisima when the latter was still assigned with the CSG.

In the agreement, a copy of which was shown to the Inquirer, the PNP gave Werfast the authority to deliver licenses of gun owners for “a reasonable service fee” over a five-year period.

“The service fee of (Werfast) shall be collected directly from the applicant who shall avail of and benefit from the on-line, hassle-free, door-to-door application and renewal of firearms license,” it read.

But the source claimed Werfast only used the services of LBC forwarding company to deliver the firearms licenses to the actual address of registered gun owners.

“In effect, Werfast is only a ‘middle man’ and not the actual courier service that delivers the gun licenses. Being the middle man, it did not have the delivery system it promised the PNP in the agreement,” he said.

The official said while LBC only charges P90 for deliveries within Metro Manila, Werfast imposed P190 for the same service.

‘Uncompetitive price’

“It means Werfast earns at least P100 per gun license delivered without any investment,” he said.

In his letter to Werfast in July 2013, then FEO director Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta cited numerous reports he had been receiving regarding its failure to deliver gun licenses within the agreed 30-day period.

Petrasanta said gun owners had also been complaining about “the uncompetitive price of (your) delivery service as compared to existing nationwide courier services.”