SAF vows equal opportunities for women

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippine National Police-Special Action Force has reaffirmed the PNP-SAF’s commitment to gender equality in recruitment and deployment, clarifying that female applicants continue to be processed under the unit’s regular quota.

Brig. Gen. Rex Malimban, SAF deputy director, said reports claiming that the elite force had stopped accepting female recruits were false.

“That’s not true. We are still processing our female SAF applicants. We have two quotas, the attrition quota and the regular quota. Our female applicants are being processed under the regular quota,” Malimban said.

The SAF regular quota aims to maintain the unit’s authorized strength of 6,000 members.

Malimban said the SAF has 70 slots under its attrition quota, which covers personnel losses due to retirement, reassignment or separation from service.

He said all recruits, whether male or female, undergo the same basic and specialized training, including the SAF Commando Course.

As of this month, SAF has 591 female troopers, including 51 officers.

Among the officers are Lt. Col. Irene Abating, the most senior female officer and chief of administrative division, as well as Maj. Metos Tano, the first female battalion commander in SAF history. ­