PRO-7 swears in new policemen and urges true service

Becoming a police officer is neither an employment nor an investment opportunity but a service to the community, a regional police official reminded the new police recruits that took their oaths in a ceremony at the Police Regional Office yesterday.

Senior Supt. Federico Terte, deputy regional director for administration, told the newly sworn-in recruits of the Philippine National Police-Region 7 that the job of a policeman should not be mistaken as a money-making opportunity.

“Some of you feel that the PNP is an employment agency where you are assured of a high paying job. If that is what have in your minds right now, I can assure you that you will not last long. If you look at the PNP as an investment opportunity, then you are wrong,” Terte said in his speech during the oath-taking ceremony.

A total of 268 recruits, 33 of them women, were officially sworn into the police service each with the initial rank of Police Officer 1. As such, each of them is estimated to receive a gross monthly salary and allowance totaling P14,265.00.

After their oath-taking, the recruits will undergo a six-month Police Basic Recruit Course, then another six months of Field Training Program before they are assigned to different PNP units.

Terte, delivering the speech on behalf of PRO-7 director Ronald Roderos who was in Manila to attend the budget hearing for the PNP, told the recruits that the PNP organization is a service oriented agency, which primary concern is to serve the community.

He also reminded them that the police has been a subject of criticism and sometimes ridicule because it is an organization of transparency.

“I fear that day when these criticism, the ridicule will be gone, not because we have become a perfect organization, but because our stakeholders and our clients, the people, have become paranoid and has totally lost trust in their own national police,” Terte said.

After the ceremony, the recruits were then ordered to undergo exercises—snake roll, duck walk, and push-up, among others—right under the heat of the sun.

The PNP now has a total of 113,928 uniformed personnel assigned in the national headquarters and in various regional offices but about 2,700 of them are set to retire also this year. 

By this month of December, the PNP is expected to recruit 4,600 more men to fill in the positions vacated by retired personnel and those separated due to attrition. — Garry B. Lao/RAE