Nearly 3,700 cops awarded with Medal of Heroism for election duties

Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil awards the Medal of Heroism to 3,698 personnel for their service during the 2025 national and local elections in a ceremony at Camp Crame on Friday, May 23, 2025. (Photo by Jason Sigales/INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday awarded the Medal of Heroism to 3,698 of its personnel.

The honor was for their service as Special Electoral Board (SEB) contingents during the 2025 midterm polls.

“Serving as SEBs is no ordinary assignment. It requires not only a high level of competency but also an iron-clad sense of impartiality,” PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil said in a speech after the awarding ceremony at Camp Crame.

Back to basics

Marbil also said the police officers trained for the SEB contingent may be the same personnel to be deployed for the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections this October.

In the meantime, 686 PNP officers were still en route from Mindanao to their original assignments, according to Marbil.

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With election duties now behind them, Marbil said, “We will go back to basics.”

“This is what we really want: cops on the block. We want more police officers to be going around, patrolling,” he said.

“In fact, I have some guidance now: We will activate again the force multipliers we once had. The civilians, the barangay watchmen, who can help us. We need more people on the ground to help us,” he added./mcm