MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is hiring around 4,000 civilians to free more policemen from desk jobs and ease the country’s shortage of 37,000 police officers.
At the Senate hearing of the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) 2020 budget on Monday, Sen. Franklin Drilon noted that the need to assign police officers to desk jobs was reducing police visibility, particularly in urban centers.
“Why do we have policemen doing administrative work? Why don’t we hire personnel just for administrative work? The police officers are trained for peacekeeping. They are not trained to do office work,” Drilon told the PNP leadership.
Drilon pointed out that it is important for the policemen to be seen in public since this has been proven to be an effective crime deterrent.
Gen. Oscar Albayalde, the PNP chief, said the organization had a program to hire 15,000 civilians and about 11,768 positions had been filled.
But the shortage in civilians is aggravated by the shortage in policemen themselves, Albayalde said, noting that Republic Act No. 6975, or the DILG Act, has set a police-to-population ratio of 1:500.
Albayalde said the current ratio appeared to be “near ideal” at 1:504 but the “actual” on-the-ground force was only 1:575.
When broken down by region, the disparity in the deployment of policemen becomes even more evident.
For instance, in Metro Manila, the police-population ratio is at 1:525 but it increases to 1:1,012 in Central Luzon and 1:1,200 in Calabarzon.
Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. pointed out that in Bacoor City (2010 pop. 520,216), the ratio was even higher at 1:3,404.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the deployment numbers varied because policemen had to be reassigned to “priority areas.”
These areas are where crime is more prevalent and where there is a presence of “peace spoilers,” such as the New People’s Army and the Abu Sayyaf.
Stringent requirements
It also doesn’t help that there is a lack of 37,000 policemen nationwide, Año said.
He pointed out that while they received many applications, especially now with the higher pay for policemen, the stringent hiring requirements limited them from getting as many new hires.
“In the (Armed Forces of the Philippines), you can already serve with a K-12 [education]. Here, you must be a college graduate and possess a civil service eligibility,” he explained.
“That’s why it’s difficult to get recruits and fill the unfilled positions,” he added.
Under the 2020 budget, the PNP is asking Congress nearly P3 billion for the hiring of 10,000 policemen. It is also seeking P757.6 million to purchase 496 new vehicles to improve its law enforcement operations.