Cordillera Administrative Region Training Center (CARTC) Director, Police Supt. Carter Balunes (Photo by Pamela Mariz Geminiano)
BAGUIO CITY -- The Cordillera Administrative Region Training Center (CARTC), a state-run school for cops serving the provinces of Cordillera, has added a subject in its training curriculum to build the character of policemen and weed out hoodlums in uniform.
CARTC regional training director, Police Supt. Carter Balunes, said the subject, “Character and Competency Framework”, has been included in the school's curriculum to sustain high standards of ethics and morality among personnel and incoming police officers.
“Moral recovery and spiritual upliftment is already incorporated with the National Police Training Institute (NPTI) curriculum,” Balunes told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday.
He explained that the independent subject was incorporated in the training of cops as a way to address reports that some policemen are engaged in activities contrary to their being law enforcers.
Balunes said efforts to enhance the character of policemen were strengthened when President Rodrigo Duterte sat in office and addressed issues on hoodlums in uniform.
The President has also doubled the salaries of the policemen to prevent them from engaging in money-making criminal activities.
"This is a way to curb ‘ninja cops’ or scalawags in the police force damaging the image of the whole organization,” Balunes said.
He said an officer without an "ethical perspective" shows "weak moral foundation," which, if not addressed, could prompt the person to engage in activities unbecoming of a law enforcer.
Balunes said the CARTC now has 68 police trainees taking up the course for Public Safety Officers, 52 undergoing the Officers Orientation Course, and 50 others completing the Junior Leadership Course.
Police training at the CARTC, located at the Teachers Camp in Baguio City, runs for at least six months, depending on the course.
“Also, we have a total of 220 in-house trainees now," Balunes added. "For September, we are expecting 500 trainees for Police Officer 1.”
Chief Supt. Rolando Nana, director of Police Regional Office in Cordillera, commended the institution for "making a remarkable history in academic and institutional achievement."
Nana was the guest speaker at the flag-raising ceremony at CARTC on Monday to open the 50th Founding Anniversary celebration of the institution.
He urged the school for cops to pursue its mandate to "create a stimulated educational institution that expands the avenue for faculty and students and produce quality and ethical law enforcers."
"CARTC is already one of the prestigious institutions for career advancement of Philippine National Police personnel and one of the leading centers for academic excellence in Cordillera," Nana said. (PNA)
