PNP promotes 10,000 cops

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) has promoted almost 10,000 policemen nationwide in preparation for next year’s mid-term elections.

“The newly-promoted PNP personnel include 159 Police Commissioned Officers (PCO) with ranks of Police Inspector to Police Superintendent, and 9,547 Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCO) with ranks of Police Officer 2 to Senior Police Officer 4,” PNP Spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Of the total 9,706 promoted policemen, 37 come from the National Headquarters, 965 from the National Support Units, and 8,704 from the Police Regional Offices, Cerbo said.

Director General Nicanor Bartolome, PNP Chief, led the formal oath-taking ceremony for almost 1,000 Camp Crame-based police.

“In the next couple of months, we shall be switching to election mode when the election period shall officially commence in January 2013,” Bartolome said during the ceremony.

Oath-taking ceremonies were also held throughout 17 Police Regional Offices nationwide, Cerbo said.

“The newly-promoted PNCOs will be tapped to assume junior leadership roles to supervise freshly-trained recruits who are expected to be placed on full-duty status upon completion of basic training in time for pre-election security operation in early 2013,” Cerbo said.

The 143,000-strong police force was expecting the entry of a large number of recruits from the Police National Training Institute in the following months.