MANILA, Philippines—For the sake of a career upgrade in the Philippine National Police, Superintendents Rolando Santos and Leony Danao shelled out their life savings to fly to the United States and train with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“We are spending half a million pesos of our money. We don’t have a per diem. The government is not shouldering a single centavo for this senior officers’ course. We shoulder our own expenses,” said Santos, a police officer for the past 26 years.

Said Danao of Marikina City: “We need this for ourselves; we have to sacrifice. Anyway, this is for us, in preparation for our promotion. We don’t have a choice but to undergo this course.”

Despite a PNP-wide ban on travel, Santos, Danao and 27 other senior police officers flew to Los Angeles, California, yesterday. They took the trip on their own money while the PNP grappled with the controversy triggered by the P6.9-million contingency allocation for eight top PNP officials who traveled to Russia.

The group of 29 also included three Coast Guard officers, two jail officers, one superintendent and two officers of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC).

They will undergo required overseas training under the PPSC Officers’ Senior Executive Course.

“This is for our career. We have to finish this course so we can be promoted to senior superintendent. This is mandatory to complete our course,” Santos said.

Like the others, Santos and Danao said they were spending their own money on round-trip tickets, accommodations, food and incidentals during their month-long stay in the United States.

“No government funds are involved in this travel, and the 29 PNP student-officers are shouldering their own expenses,” said Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, the PNP spokesperson.

But PNP Director for Human Resource and Doctrine Development German Doria said that according to the usual practice, the group must have been given some kind of travel allowance.

“We have a counterpart [allowance] there; I just don’t know how much. But definitely, the PNP or the PPSC has a counterpart [allocation] because that’s part of the programmed allocation,” he said.

Doria, who was part of the delegation that traveled to Russia, said the group of 29 was allowed to leave despite the travel ban enforced on Thursday because the FBI course was a requisite for the officers’ graduation.

“This has already been arranged. We already have a commitment. They will bear diplomatic passports as official visitors,” he said.

The 29 officers were briefed by Philippine customs and immigration officers at Camp Crame earlier Friday to familiarize them with US departure and arrival procedures.

During the sendoff, Doria told the officers: “Do not put the organization in a bad light … Anyone here planning to go TNT (overstay)?”

A repeated reminder was the cash limit for airline passengers departing the United States.

“If your relatives ask you to bring home money and you have more than $10,000 as you leave the US, be sure to declare it,” said Doria.

The PNP now requires all traveling officers to undergo pre-departure orientation “to avoid embarrassment, travel delay or legal problems,” Doria said.