MANILA — More than 16,000 police officers promoted to a higher rank took their oath Monday at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
“This system of reward and punishment should give our personnel enough motivation to perform better, and fair warning not to deviate from our sworn duty as servants and protectors of the people,” PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said in a press conference.
“I extend the warmest congratulations of the national leadership to 16,840 Police Commissioned Officers (PCO) and Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCO) who were promoted to higher rank today, during the simultaneous mass oath-taking ceremonies at the PNP National Headquarters and Police Regional Offices and Units nationwide,” he added.
PCOs for the Philippine National Police (PNP) are from the Philippine Military Academy and the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) as well as through “lateral entry” for specialized disciplines and requirements such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, chaplain and other technical positions and also the rose-from-the-rank personnel who have reached the qualifications to be a commissioned officer.
The PNP conducts regular recruitment programs, depending on the annual budget.
The entry level for non-commissioned officers is the rank of Police Officer 1 or PO1.
The new recruits will undergo Public Safety Basic Recruit Course for six months, and a field training program for another six months. They also undergo the training of PNP Special Counter-insurgency Unit Training (SCOUT) course for 45 days to 5 months.
Currently, the PNP has a force of about 190,000 men and women and is projected to recruit an additional 10,000 more a year.