PNP needs over 7,000 more cops

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) is planning to recruit more than 7,000 new police officers in the next few months, as part of its ongoing campaign to augment the police force until 2011. PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said they would be needing 3,000 new Police Officers 1 (PO1) and another 4,000 replacements for the police personnel who would had either died, retired, resigned, or had been dismissed from mid-2008 to early 2009. "We are trying to strengthen our police forces with the employment of new police recruits and this is the initial recruitment for the first semester of 2009," Verzosa added. The regular recruitment is still part of the presidential directive to recruit 15,000 PO1s from 2006 until 2011. "The current recruitment is already open and applicants can proceed to the nearest police station and start the processing of the necessary requirements," said Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman. Police Director Edgardo Acuña of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management said of the 7,245 men that would be recruited, 10 percent or 725 would be assigned to the National Support Units (NSU) while the bigger chunk of 6,250 recruits would be dispatched to various police regional offices nationwide. But the biggest chunk of the slots – estimated at about 1,000 - are available at the National Capital Region Police Office, while the Bicol Regional Police is in need of 550 policemen. The regions of Central Visayas and Central Mindanao would each be enlisitng 430 police recruits. Collectively, Mindanao would be taking in 1,981 recruits. "This is due to the constant threat of terrorism and peace and order concerns in the area," Acuña said. But the recruitment does not stop there as the PNP still plans to enlist another batch of 3,000 policemen for the second half of the year, according to Bartolome. All applicants will be subjected to a series of examinations and rigorous training. Once accepted, the new recruits would be taking their oaths in July and be turned over to the Police National Training Institute (PNTI) for the regular year-long field training. According to Bartolome, the PNP is consisted of over 125,000 police personnel and officials nationwide. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV