MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police officer in charge, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, has issued a set of rules, including serving the public with a smile, for all policemen to comply with.
Serve with a smile
Gamboa said that a set of guidelines he previously issued directly to unit commanders in line with the PNP’s continuing internal cleansing program would be reduced into a command memorandum circular, which all personnel were required to abide by.
At a press briefing on Monday, Gamboa cited as part of his guidance, “All PNP personnel should serve the public with a smile and with utmost courtesy. We are public servants.”
Render salute
He also said that all policemen should render salute to superior officers and show utmost respect while unit commanders should look after the welfare of their men.
“Tamang bihis (proper uniform) will be strictly enforced with corresponding stiffer penalties for infractions,” Gamboa said.
“All PNP personnel must not tolerate lawlessness or disorder and must be tough against criminals without fear or favor,” he added.
He also prohibited golf on weekdays and banned policemen’s “engagement or unauthorized” presence in places of ill-repute such as gambling joints, casinos, cockpits, bars or similar areas.
No take
Gamboa stressed that there should be “no take in whatever form of material or monetary consideration from operators of illegal gambling, drug dealers, including any form of bribe, grease money or ‘kotong’ (extorted cash) from analogous illegal sources.”
He explicitly said that no recovered vehicles, cars or motorcycles, which were considered evidence must be used by policemen.
Gamboa further pointed out that there would be “no use by PNP personnel of [official] PNP or PNP personnel’s private vehicles without plate number or conduction sticker number.”
“I have directed the concerned directorial staff to reduce this series of directives and instructions into a command memorandum circular to be circulated to all PNP units through official channels,” Gamboa said.
‘Very basic guidelines’
In an interview aired on Tuesday over radio station dzMM, the he described his guidelines as “very basic” but said that they needed to be reiterated time and again.
He remarked that he could not understand why policemen had to be sanctioned first before they complied with the guidelines, which had constantly been reiterated.