Time for cops to lose pot bellies

Time to lose the pot belly again, officers.

The new Philippine National Police chief, Deputy Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome, said he planned to reactivate a waist-reduction policy among obese policemen popularized by his former boss, Senator Panfilo Lacson.

“I think it’s about time we did something again to keep our police officers fit and trim,” he told reporters.

But this time around, the trim Bartolome said there might be a slight variation from the early 2000 directive of Lacson, a former PNP chief himself under whom Bartolome served as spokesperson.

“This time, we will focus on the body mass index (BMI). That has to be followed,” Bartolome said. BMI is a measure of one’s fitness determined by weight and height.

Lacson, who attended Friday’s PNP turnover ceremony, said many police officers now “have big bellies.”

In 2000, Lacson, as PNP chief,  prescribed 34 inches as the maximum regulation waist measurement for all police personnel.

Under that policy, which was discontinued in succeeding administrations, those who failed the physical fitness test were allowed to keep their  assignments but were required to go through a three-month physical fitness program.