DND, PNP reject lifting of tattoo ban

DND Sec. Delfin Lorenzana at the House of Representatives’s Committee on National Defense’s inquiry into the Philippine Navy’s Frigates Acquisition Project (FAP). INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Both the Department of National Defense and the Philippine National Police have opposed the lifting of “no tattoo” rule for potential recruits. 

“Any good reason why we will lift it? We would like to keep it that way…The military imposes strict rules on haircut and even mustache, why not tattoo? Tattoos are ugly and connotes gangster image,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Monday. 

He was reacting to Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles’ proposal for the military and police to lift their “archaic” requirements such as lifting the ban on applicants with tattoos. 

The lawmaker said he knows “a lot of people” whose applications were rejected just because of having tattoos. 

PNP chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said they want to keep the tradition of banning individuals with tattoos. 

“Basta kami we are just being traditional kasi like shaving your mustache, ang pangit tingnan pag pulis naka-uniporme, hindi nakagupit. Part of grooming yan eh,” he said in a separate news briefing.

(For us, we are just being traditional, like shaving your mustache; it doesn’t look good when a police is in uniform and he’s unkempt. It’s part of grooming.)

Lorenzana likewise said the Army is “an old-fashioned organization in some ways.”

“We have standards of behaviors that harkens back to medieval times and they are still relevant today: following orders, wearing approved uniform and badges, fitting into an organization, having a regulation haircut, regulated daily activities, be physically fit,” he said. /je