Philippines needs 3 decades to reach ideal police, people ratio

MANILA, Philippines—If the annual recruitment rate of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for new officers will not increase, Filipinos will have to wait for three more decades to reach the ideal ratio of one police officer per 500 people, PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said Thursday.

To achieve the ideal 1:500 ratio in 10 years, the 140,000-strong PNP should enlist 10,000 police officers, Bartolome said during the Manila Overseas Press Club forum Wednesday night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati City.

But he said that since the PNP only hires 6,000 a year, the country needs 30 years to achieve its target number of policemen, he said.

And despite the 6,000 rookie cops per year, the PNP only grows by 3,000 a year because half of the total enlistee just replaced officers who have retired, resigned and dismissed, Bartolome said.

The rate right now, he said, is more or less 1:700.

“But that is if policemen will perform on a 24 hour duty. We divide it by two because we already serve 12 hours a day that means, 1:1,400,” he said.

Bartolome said that there were 5,200 enlistee who took their oath last November 2.

“Hopefully we can still recruit 2,000 more so that by the end of July next year, we will just need 6000,” he said.