MANILA -- Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa on Monday welcomed the proposal to change terminology for ranks of police personnel to avoid confusion and more accurately reflect its counterpart ranks in the military.
"We are happy with that. Kami po nag-initiate n’yan, nag-lobby para lalabas yung batas na yan (We initiated that and lobbied for that law) and that will reduce the confusion, hindi lang sa publiko kundi para na rin sa ating (not just for the public but also for our) counterparts kasi hanggang ngayon meron pa din hindi alam yung rank na counterpart nila sa PNP (because right now there are those who do not know their counterpart rank in the PNP). So hindi na tayo mahirapan, pareho na kami ng rank (We won't have a hard time anymore because we have the same rank)," Dela Rosa said.
Last month, the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill 5236, which seeks to modify the rank classification of uniformed personnel in the PNP by adopting the rank classification used in the military establishment.
Dela Rosa said he does not expect the change in the terminologies of police ranks to affect the civilian character of the PNP.
"What's in a name? Only the terminology changes but still, the civilian in character and national in scope which is the basic intention of the law that led to the creation of the PNP remains. Our attitudes won't change. We have been PNP for more than 27 years and that will not change. Our attitude is there. Only the rank changes," the PNP chief said.
Under the present system, the PNP commissioned officer (PCO) ranks start at Inspector, the equivalent of Lieutenant in the military, followed by Senior Inspector (Captain), Chief Inspector (Major), Superintendent (Lieutenant Colonel), Senior Superintendent (Colonel) followed by Chief Superintendent (Brigadier General), Director (Major General), Deputy Director General (Lieutenant General) up to Director General, the equivalent of a 4-star General.
For police non-commissioned officers (PNCOs), at present the rank nomenclature start at Police Officer 1, the equivalent of Private in the AFP followed by PO2 (Private First Class), PO3 (Corporal), Senior Police Officer 1 (Sergeant), SPO2 (Staff Sergeant), SPO3 (Sergeant First Class), SPO4 (Sergeant Major). A rank of SPO5 is also given for technical personnel such as nurses.
Yes to height requirement removal, no to tattoos
Meanwhile, dela Rosa said he has no personal objections to legislation eliminating the height requirement for would-be police officers adding that the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) has done away with the requirement some time ago.
"Well, height requirement sa PMA matagal na tinanggal hindi ba, makita mo kadete doon maliiit na kasi hindi naman talaga height ang basehan sa kagalingan at kabaitan ng tao hindi ba so we are open to that, walang problema pero nasa batas namin yan so kailangan another law mag-amend sa batas na yan but still ayusin namin yan na mabago (Height requirement was already removed long ago. You can see there are short cadets because height is never a basis for ability and goodness of a person. There is no problem but that is in our law so there must be another law to amend that but we are currently working to change that)," Dela Rosa said.
The PNP chief, however, said he is personally opposed to allowing policemen to sport tattoos on parts of their body which can be seen when in uniform.
This, according to him, poorly reflects the image of the police officers.
He also emphasized that policemen must also be fresh-faced and clean-shaven at all times. (PNA)
