Bar coding system levels playing field for all PNP applicants

For the first time in the Philippine National Police, the bar coding system was used, in which police applicants were assigned a code number unknown to them or anyone else in the organization.

This year, all 4,000 aspiring policemen went through the same physical and agility tests, including the neuropsychiatric exam, without intervention from insiders.

Police Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the National Capital Region Police Office chief, emphasized that the successful applicants made it on their own merits—“no patrons, no sponsors, no politicians interceding on their behalf, regardless of their social status, whether rich or poor.” The results showed that most applicants got academic scores averaging at 85 percent or more, unlike before where some “mysteriously” passed all tests, including the neuropsychiatric exam, because of bribes and their connections.

Eleazar said these questionable practices were to blame for some lawmen’s involvement in drug recycling, “hulidap,” parricide, rape, murder, including conflicts between superiors and subordinates that sadly resulted in fatalities.

Initially, 300 millennial policemen were hired to compose the first batch of new recruits. Eleazar challenged them to be steadfast and confident in the performance of their duties while upholding moral values. “We will train you well and we know that from this core will come some of the best policemen and officers in the history of the PNP,” he said.

It’s about time we professionalize the police recruitment system and prevent the entry of scalawags, misfits, corrupt and crazy cops. This initial step taken by the PNP chief, Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde, and Eleazar will help bring back people’s
respect for the police uniform.

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Metro Manila is gleaming today with glass skyscrapers amid a construction boom. It is easy to see that we’re virtually in the “age of glass” but the possible aftereffects of the “Big One” and supertyphoons on the metropolis are major concerns, especially to those who work in such buildings and pedestrians. As such, monitoring, regulating and ensuring the safety and quality of glass we use, whether in houses or in buildings, are highly imperative.

Unknown to many, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez is fighting for the imposition of international standards of product quality and safety on construction glass, steel bars and cement.

While successful in its campaign on steel and cement, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) hit a snag when it tried to enforce Department Administrative Order (DAO) 19-05 — a new set of regulations requiring mandatory product certification for local and imported flat glass and related products.

Several glass importers who felt their rights were violated took the DTI to court. They secured an injunction from the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 141, which effectively barred the DTI from enforcing new rules on glass safety standards and product certification.

As a compromise, we hear that Lopez is open to amending DAO 19-05 if it will help facilitate the lifting of the court injunction. However, he is not yielding the DTI’s right to require certification and inspection. With the proliferation of substandard construction glass that puts the public at risk, the DTI is duty-bound to strictly enforce mandatory standards.

Not to do so is a bigger crime against the people.

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