Roxas pushes for peer review of promotions, designation in PNP

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Snatching a juicy post in the police service might soon be as difficult as landing a seat in the judiciary.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II has proposed a peer review and approval of promotions and designations of senior officers in the Philippine National Police (PNP) similar to the system of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

Composed of lawyers and representatives of the three branches of the government, the seven-member JBC vets and recommends nominees seeking appointment as justices and judges in the Supreme Court and all lower courts, respectively, through a series of public interviews.

Roxas broached the idea amid the issues raised by graduates of the PNP Academy (PNPA) who have been complaining about what they consider to be an unfair police promotion system favoring the alumni of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

“I do not want a promotion system based on seniority or merely on the call of PNPA or PMA graduates. Promotions must always be merit-based,” Roxas said in a statement.

Roxas said he had already informed officers of the PNPA Alumni Association Inc. of this new policy guideline in the PNP when the group met with him at his office last week.

During their meeting, the interior secretary promised the PNPA graduates that he would check on their concerns and “implement measures to correct what they perceive as disparity in the promotion and assignment of PNP officers.”

He said he has ordered Eduardo Escueta, vice chair of the National Police Commission, to come up with a “policy mechanism” to resolve the “apparent flaws in the promotion and assignment system” in the 148,000-strong force.

Much like the JBC, the interior secretary said the new system was intended to “offer fair opportunities for advancement” in the career of PNP officials.

At present, designations and promotions in the PNP are being handled by the Senior Officers Promotions and Placement Board, a body dominated by PMA graduates.

Roxas assured police officials that a new “system of meritocracy” would be adopted in the PNP, giving importance to the skills and competence of police officers rather their connections in the bureaucracy.

In his visit to the Nueva Ecija police provincial office in Cabanatuan City last week, Roxas said police personnel who have been excelling  in their jobs as law enforcers would be recognized and given an opportunity for promotion.

He said he had directed Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas, PNP deputy chief for administration, to compel all police officers applying for positions and promotions to include in their curriculum vitae the records of their anti-criminality campaign in their most recent assignment.

“Right now, the curriculum vitae of policemen only show their training, experiences and postings. But it does not tell what happened to their area during their (tour of duty),” he noted.

Roxas said he also ordered Rojas to review closely the application papers of senior police officers to ensure that “no one would ‘doctor’ their track records.”

The interior secretary also recommended that police officers with the rank of inspector, the equivalent of lieutenant in the military, should be designated to key positions “so they will acquire experience and fast-track their careers.”

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