Cops post highest passing rate in 24 years

MANILA, Philippines - More than half of the examinees passed the police promotional examinations three months ago, representing the highest passing rate in 24 years, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) said Thursday.

“The 51.16 percent passing rate in the promotional exams is the highest recorded passing percentage since 1991 when the commission started administering the police exams pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act 6975 (the PNP Law),” Napolcom vice chairman and executive officer Eduardo Escueta said.

Of the 21,650 police officers who took the promotional examinations on April 26, 11,077 or 51.16 percent passed, he said.

The passing rates per category are: for the police officer exam, 57.75 percent (6,271 of 10,859 examinees); for the senior police officer exam, 44.54 percent (4,253 of 9,548 examinees); for the inspector exam, 33.78 percent (329 of 974 examinees); and for the superintendent exam, 83.27 percent (224 of 269 examinees).

Escueta said the significant increase may be attributed to the test questions, most of which were taken from the Police Operational Procedure (POP) Manual 2013, which should serve as the bible for all police officers.

Another contributing factor, he said, is the conduct of continuing review classes for police officers initiated by some police regional and provincial offices.

As for the Napolcom entrance examination, which is required for applicants to the Philippine National Police, only 2,100 or 16.33 percent of the 12,923 examinees passed, which is 4.17 percent lower than the 20.50 percent passing rate in the November 2014 entrance test.