PNP taps fitness vlogger to whip cops into shape
Rendon Labador — Photo from Rendor Labador/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has tapped fitness vlogger Rendon Labador to lead a 93-day weight loss program for its members.
The program was initiated by the Police Community Affairs and Development Group (PCADG) based on a directive from PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III for police officers to strictly observe the weight requirement stated under Republic Act 9675. The law reorganized the PNP as an attached agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
According to Section 30, Paragraph 1 of RA No. 9675, members of the PNP “must [weigh] not more or less than 5 kilograms of the standard weight corresponding to his or her height, age, and sex.”
“We will monitor them. We will take note of their weight. We will work out at the same time and we will monitor them weekly,” Labador said in an interview with reporters in Camp Crame on Thursday.
“Just call me the national coach of the police,” he added.
No charge for services
According to Labador, he was approached by PCADG Director Brig. Gen. Marvin Saro to lead the program, which he agreed to do free of charge, along with fellow coaches and nutritionists who will be helping him.
The fitness vlogger shared that part of his motivation for accepting the collaboration was that his father was also a policeman.
Labador said an initial 150 police officers will participate in the program to be launched in Camp Crame on Wednesday afternoon.
“A fit police officer has more credibility and [is] considered more trustworthy. We are public servants, so we show that in our discipline, our credibility. Our physical appearance is part of what strengthens that,” he told reporters.
Last Friday, Torre said that he ordered the PNP’s mobile force personnel to undergo a serious physical fitness program of their choice every Tuesday and Thursday, from 3 p.m. onward.
Earlier this month, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said it was also part of Torre’s directives that officers who fail the PNP’s physical fitness test twice would undergo retraining and may not be eligible for promotion.
