(File photo)
MANILA – A total of 43,909 police commissioned officers (PCOs) and police non-commissioned officers (PNCOs) across the country's 17 regions have been promoted in the regular promotion cycle in recognition of their qualifications, performance, and merit, PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said on Monday.
In a statement, Acorda said that he will personally induct into office a total of 607 PCOs on Monday afternoon.
The PCOs would be appointed into the PNP officer corps as line officers and technical service officers via lateral entry, mostly from the ranks of qualified NCOs and some civilians.
“By these human resource actions of promotion and lateral entry appointment, we are recognizing the good performance shown by these personnel and at the same time, professionalizing the service by appointing more responsible and qualified personnel and officers to crucial frontline service positions,” Acorda said.
Acorda congratulated all units for obtaining a high public trust and satisfaction rating of 80 percent in the first quarter of the “Tugon ng Masa” survey by OCTA Research.
He said the trust and satisfaction on the PNP is an affirmation of other related public surveys, particularly the opinion of 85 percent of Filipinos that the Philippines is headed in the right direction under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
He said the PNP will reciprocate the trust of the public with a commitment of genuine public service and honest performance even at the risk of their lives.
“To guarantee this commitment, the PNP has an institutionalized disciplinary mechanism in place that administers a judicious system of reward and punishment that is quick in giving due recognition for good performance, yet swift and decisive in imposing stiff sanctions for misconduct and breach of discipline,” said Acorda.
At the rate PNP anti-illegal drugs operations are going, Acorda confidently said the government is winning the fight against illegal drugs.
“Over the past four months from January 1 to May 19, 2023, a total of 23,395 drug personalities were rounded-up in 17,668 police operations against illegal drugs. Confiscated in these operations were a sizable quantity of illegal drugs estimated to be worth PHP5.76-billion,” said Acorda.
In line with the 2023 national crime prevention program approved by President Marcos on May 2, through Memorandum Circular No. 19, the PNP is focusing more on the preventive aspect of crime control by taking away the instruments of crime and violence, accounting for the criminal elements who set into motion the criminal motive, hardening of soft targets, and establishing strong police presence to further deny opportunities for crime to be committed.
He said these preventive actions against crime are more prominent in police operations against loose firearms and the arrest of wanted persons.
Police operations against loose firearms since Jan. 1 have yielded an assortment of 10,971 recovered, surrendered, and confiscated firearms from 3,435 arrested persons.
A total of 6,221 firearms were also received by PNP units for safekeeping.
“To complement the firearms control measure as preventive action against crime, the PNP also arrested 27,948 wanted persons and accepted the surrender of 153 other wanted persons over the same 4-month period this year,” he said.
“Aside from operations against wanted persons and loose firearms, over the same 4-month period, the PNP neutralized 187 criminal gangs with the arrest of 854 and surrender of 86 gang members and the confiscation of 126 firearms,” he added. (PNA)
