Cheating anomaly: 14 cop trainees can’t retake PNP exam for 3 years

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – Fourteen police trainees in the Calabarzon region who allegedly cheated in last year’s police entrance examination are barred from taking the same test for three consecutive years.

“If these trainees still want to be policemen, after three years, then they can apply again and they will be allowed to undergo the examination, screening, procedures, and evaluation of their documents,” Chief Superintendent James Melad, Calabarzon police director, told The STAR.

Melad cited regulations from the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the Civil Service Commission for police applicants who had committed wrongdoings.

Melad said the 14 trainees were among the 387 police applicants nationwide who were terminated from the police service for cheating in the April 17, 2011 police entrance exam.

He said most of the 14 trainees took the exam in Mindanao and applied with the Calabarzon police when Napolcom discovered the cheating.

Senior Inspector Cecilia Perlas, chief of the Recruitment and Selection Section, said they have received a memorandum for the termination of the 14 trainees from the police service.

Perlas, however, said they are still conducting a pre-charge evaluation and summary dismissal proceeding against the police trainees to determine their participation in the cheating as part of due process.