523 PNP recruits take oath

CEBU, Philippines - Mixed emotions flooded the Police Regional Office-7 yesterday as parents, relatives, friends, and spouses bid farewell, for at least six months, to the 523 new police officers.

The 523 PO1s, the biggest batch of police recruits so far in PRO-7, left for Balamban town for their Basic Recruit Training shortly after they took their oath at 8 a.m.

PRO-7 Director Ager Ontog, who administered the oath-taking ceremony, said the new police recruits are physically and emotionally fit as they underwent several examinations, including physical tests.

After six months, Ontog expects the new PO1s, 70 of whom are women, to be disciplined and courteous, among others.

“Dapat ang serbisyo sa publiko ang unahin. Dapat hindi overbearing, dapat mababa ang loob,” the PRO-7 director said.

Senior Supt. Josephus Angan, PRO-7 chief of staff, said the new PO1s can be dismissed from the service within six months if they fail in their training at the Regional Training School in Gaas, Balamban.

“Just like any other school, mu-undergo sila og mga examination nya pwede sad sila mahagbong. At the end of six months, they will be graded,” Angan said.

For those who will succeed the six-month training, they will undergo the second phase of the recruitment, the Field Training Program (FTP), for another six months, Angan said.

Just the other day, the first batch of 464 policemen who just completed their Basic Recruit Training at Gaas are already undergoing FTP and were deployed to different areas in Central Visayas, Angan said.

“Basically, police service is dedicated service to the country and to the people. It should be their mindset,” Angan said.

Angan, on the issue of hazing, said they are strictly against it because there is the Anti-Hazing Law.

“It’s a big no-no,” the police official said.

Mercedita Gomez of the Regional Personnel and Human Resource and Doctrines Division said the number of new recruits almost met the 530 quota.

Gomez said those who did not pass the recruitment have derogatory records. Some have parents who are involved in illegal activities, Gomez added.

“Duna’y usa tomboyish, nagminatay tawn og depensa sa iyang kaugali-ngon. Gi-pregnancy test siya ka-tulo nya puros man jud positive. Gikuhaan siya og blood sample, unya negative man. It turned out hormonal imbalance ra diay,” she said.

On board 10 buses, the police recruits were ferried to Gaas yesterday by their senior police officers.

Nestor Villanueva, 29, a resident of Dumanjug, said his ambition to become a policeman is almost within his reach. It was his seventh time to apply for the PNP.

“Ika-pito na ni nako na pang-apply. At last, pulis na jud ko. Ambisyon jud ni nako na mahimong pulis,” Villanueva said, who took up a course in Criminology. — (FREEMAN)