‘Obese Zamboanga peninsula cops face dismissal’

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines –  At least 690 obese and overweight personnel of the Zamboanga peninsula police face removal from the service if they fail to comply with intervention programs.

Brig. Gen. Froilan Quidilla, regional police director, said concerned police officers were recalled from their mother units and asked to report to the regional headquarters for body mass index (BMI) evaluation.

Quidilla said evaluation held at Camp Abendan showed that 42 police officers from the regional headquarters, five from Isabela City, 178 from the Zamboanga del Norte, 182 from Zamboanga del Sur, 181 from Zamboanga City, 86 from Zamboanga Sibugay and 25 from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion are obese.

He said 9.23 percent of region’s 7,574 police officers are considered obese.

“Everyone must be fit to perform law enforcement jobs... BMI should be strictly complied with as part of the internal cleansing program, otherwise a dismissal order would be sought,” Quidilla said.

Philippine National Police officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said only 102,600 or 54 percent of the country’s 190,000-strong police force are at their ideal weight.

Gamboa said nine percent or 17,100 are obese while the rest are overweight.

Under the PNP’s revised BMI, police officers severely underweight should gain one to three kilos per month until they reach the ideal weight.

Obese police officers were advised to lose two kilos per month.