License to Own and Possess Firearm (LTOPF) Requirements Process - December 2016

The requirements for the License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) as posted on December 2016 outside the Firearms and Explosives Divsion (FED) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

I went thru the process of acquiring a License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) and renew my Firearms Licenses recently, and it was one hell of a saga, hence I decided to go and blog about it. This will be the first of a couple of parts, probably three parts, we’ll see, and this first one covers only how I got the REQUIREMENTS, not the LTOPF itself, but just the requirements.

There are a couple of ways and outlets where one can go about getting these requirements, but I decided to just go directly to Camp Crame to make sure I followed the correct procedure, and hopefully to get it sooner also (how wrong I was, I found out later).

Before I went there, I read around the internet for guides on how to go about it so I will at least have some idea what to do when I get there. Now as for a walkthrough on how I got mine, here it goes:

DAY ONE

'DI Clearance'
On the first day of getting the LTOPF Clearance, I arrived there at around 1:00 pm. The first thing I did was to get the Directorate for Intelligence (DI) Clearance instead of a Police Clearance since it is available at Camp Crame, so I could get it at the same place as other. So I went to the area beside Gate Two of Camp Crame where I knew they used to issue the DI Clearance before.

When I got there, I wasn't sure what to do but good thing that there are official 'Helpers' or 'Facilitators' now there manning a table near the entrance who will entertain your questions and help you around.

I learned from them that aside from the DI Clearance Fee, I could also already pay for the fees of the other requirements like the Drug Test, Neuro-Psychiatric Exam (NPE) and Gun Safety Seminar Certificate (GSSC) Authentication, so I went out and did just that. The Cashier just asked me to show a Valid Government Identification Card (ID) to which I presented my Driver's License.

I wasn't able to get the DI Clearance, though, since a Community Tax Certificate or 'Cedula' was required and I didn't bring one. I could've gotten it from the Local Government Unit around that area, but it was a bit far off so I just thought I would get it later instead.

The area was small, and there were only around three people ahead of me of the Cashier where I paid for the Fees. The lines for the DI Clearance itself wasn't long, only around a dozen people. There were no fixers, no obvious ones anyway.

One bald young guy outside tried to be helpful and wasn't really offering to fix things, but I became suspicious later on when he was becoming too helpful, so I just politely ignored him then.

'Drug Test'
My bladder was a bit full this time, so I decided to go for the Drug Test next which is at the back of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory about a block away behind the DI Clearance area. When I got there, there wasn't a long line of applicants and the room was bare and cold since the air-conditioning was a bit strong.

I filled up a form and showed them my Driver's License and receipt for the Drug Test, and they registered me into a Logbook. I was then given a small plastic bottle with a screwed on top, and told to proceed to the Comfort Room (CR).

At the CR, there was a watcher at the door where I showed my Driver's Licence and Receipt again, and was told to use only the Gutter or Canal and not the individual stalls to collect our urine. Afterwards, I signed a readymade Masking Tape and put it over my used Plastic Bottle.

I was told to come back for the results on eleven days later and I was a bit concerned because it was near the holiday break already, but didn't contest it. The watcher then asked me if I had a fixer, and I told him no, I didn't.

Maybe he was expecting me to have one so I could get the results earlier. On my way out of the area, I did notice a lady who I thought was a fixer since she was talking about schedules and what to do next to a couple of people, and she certainly wasn't a Facilitator.

'Neuro-Psychiatric Exam'
The NPE was done at the PNP General Hospital (GH) right at the back of the DI Clearance area. When I got there, I was told I needed to give them two 2” x 2” Identification (ID) pictures, so I had to go out of Gate two and get those from one of the stores fronting the gate.

I came back later, showed them my Driver's License and Receipt for the NPE, and then gave them the ID pictures. They registered me and told me to go to the Exam Room. The exam room was large, well-lighted and comfortably cool. I was given around half a dozen or so pages of exam and general information forms.

One of the exams needed a pencil which I had to buy for Php 10 from the somewhat irritable lady at the desk near the entrance. Anyway I went with my forms and took a seat at one of the many white plastic Classroom Chairs in the area.

I wouldn't call the exams hard, but they weren't easy either since some essay was necessary and there was a lot of questions about my personality, attitude, etc. as expected from such an exam. It took me around less than one and a half hours to finish it and hand it over to the facilitators.

They told me to wait for the Interview portion at the next room where they had some decent sofa. After around 15 minutes of waiting my name was called, and the interview was rather short. The interviewer just asked me the purpose for my firearms, which was for home defense, and their details, all of which he noted down.

He then told me the result was okay and that it will be out four days later, or a couple days earlier than the Drug Test Result. So I just thanked him and went on to the next requirement.

'Gun Safety Seminar Certificate'
The GSSC is not available inside the camp, and the nearest Gun Club to get it is at the "Tough Guys Shooting Range" where one needs to cross EDSA to reach the place. At the various offices inside Crame, people kept offering me sketches on how to get there, so finding it is not a problem.

When I got to the range, I just filled up the form, paid the fee, attended the Seminar, and then took a couple of shots at their firing range where my picture was also taken. After that they told me to pick up the results seven days later, which was fine by me. The time on my watch at this time was 3:40 pm, so entire process on Day One took around three hours and 40 minutes.

DAY TWO

Obviously I had to make a return trip to Camp Crame to get the results and then apply for the LTOPF. I decided to do it on the release of the result of the test which is furthest away from the date I applied for, which is the Drug Test which released their result eleven days later.

’GSSC and Drug Test Result’
So on that date I return to Crame, but first dropped by the nearby Shooting Range to get the GSSC. No problems, no long lines, I got it quickly. When I arrived on Gate Two, the Guard there told me that all the offices were closed because there was a Camp wide Christmas Party.

I protested and told him I was told to return on this date to get the Drug Test result, so he allowed me to proceed to see if somebody was at the PNP Crime Lab. When I arrived at the lab, there was no long line of customers and the personnel on duty were in their civilian clothes. I just showed them my receipt, logged my name on a Log Sheet, and the result was handed over to me.

The DI Clearance, NPE, and LTOPF were closed, so I had no choice but to go home. My entire Day Two at Crame was W-A-S-T-E-D, and all because some idi@% either:
- Forgot it was their Christmas Party;
- Knew it was their Christmas Party but did not just care;
- Was informed of their Christmas Party only after he told me of the return date;
- Purposely made it hard for me because I didn’t go thru a fixer

DAY THREE

’DI Clearance’
I finally went back a couple of days later, I arrived at around 11:00 am and went first for the DI Clearance. No long lines, probably because of the holidays. They just told me to fill up an Application Form, photocopy my Cedula and show these together with the original receipt for the clearance.

So I did just that, got the photocopy done at one of the stores across Gate Two, then submitted the requirements to them. They took my picture using a computer, printed the clearance out and that was it.

’NPE Result’
Last was the NPE results, which I got from the PNP-GH. I showed them the receipt for that exam, and they asked me to log my name on a Log Book. They asked if I had an envelope since it was needed to seal the result, and I said none. It turns out they were selling one for Php 10 each, so I just bought one, they sealed the result there and it was done. The time was around 11:30 am, so on the third day it only took me half an hour to get both results.

’Parting Shot’
Overall it took me a total of three working days or around five hours just to get the LTOPF requirements. Even if we consider Day Two as a fluke because Christmas Parties only happen once a year, I still ended up taking two working days just for the LTOPF requirements alone. Mind you, this is not the LTOPF yet, these are just for the requirements.

Just as a summary, below is how long it took for the test results to come out:
- Drug Test, eleven days
- NPE, four days
- GSSC, seven days

Next will be how I got the LTOPF itself, which is another part of this long and frustrating saga.