200 fat P'panga cops to spend Holy Monday scaling Pinatubo

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - This time, it will also be an act of penitence, besides staying fit. Though they will follow a less tortuous route to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo, they will carry their service firearms, Armalites and machineguns, instead of wooden crosses.

A second batch of policemen from this province - 200 in all - are scaling Mt. Pinatubo's summit - 4,800 feet above sea level - on Holy Monday. The group will include those who failed in their first climb last April 6.

"Since (the trek) will be during the Holy Week, I have told the cops to make it also a penitential act for Christian renewal, for them to make amends for their past sins and to reform for the better," said Chief Superintendent Roberto Calinisan, Central Luzon police director.

The Pinatubo treks are in line with the directive of Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson to 117,000 policemen throughout the country to trim down their waistlines - the men to no more than 34 inches and the women to 29 inches - through physical fitness activities.

Of the first batch of 600 policemen-climbers, only 87 reached Pinatubo's summit last April 6. "The other climbers were too tired to climb the steep route towards the summit and stayed below where there was a waterfall," said Calinisan who has a 31-inch waistline.

For the second trek though, Calinisan said the lawmen will take less tortuous trails, instead of the treacherous route via the Pasig-Potrero River.

According to Calinisan, only a few of the first climb's "flunkers" will join the Holy Monday trek because the others are still recovering from fatigue.

The four-hour Pinatubo climb, he admitted, is "quite strenuous, and requires courage, strength, determination and stamina." Those with heart ailments are exempt.

Last week, at least 24 of 141 police superintendents failed the 34-inch waist standard during measurement tests at Camp Olivas, according to Senior Inspector Rodelio Mamac, human resources doctrine and development head of the Region 3 police.

Topping the flunkers was Superintendent Alfredo Caballes of the Bulacan police who had a 42-inch waistline. - With Ric Sapnu