Serious

PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III stated that overweight police officers may lose their jobs if they do not lose the excess weight. According to Section 30, Paragraph I of RA 6975, a police officer's weight should not be five kilos more or less than the appropriate weight for his age, height, and gender. If the weight exceeds five kilos, it means he is overweight.

I wonder how many police officers may lose their jobs because of this provision. The image of the pot-bellied cop just cannot escape my mind. Gen. Torre added that all affected police officers have one year to lose weight. Naturally, some were rattled by this. What if they have big bones? I’ve heard that justification from persons who were overweight, as if it normalizes it. Gen. Torre clarified that it is already included in the consideration of implementing the appropriate weight. Fortunately, Gen. Torre is leading by example by looking strong and healthy for his age. I seem to remember a former PNP chief who was overweight. But I digress.

A police officer must indeed be healthy and strong to fulfill their duty to serve and protect the people. Criminals can't be stronger than cops. In other countries, you'll notice that most police officers are big and muscular. Once they apprehend a suspect, they have little chance of escaping. Only time will tell if this order from Torre will bring about change in the overall weight and health of police officers, considering he only has a little over a year to serve as PNP chief.

Meanwhile, eight chiefs in the National Capital Region were relieved from duty for failing to comply with the five-minute response time. Gen. Torre gave this directive when he was sworn in as PNP chief and warned that many more could be removed from duty if the order is not followed. Those removed are from the cities of Caloocan, Navotas, Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Marikina, San Juan, Parañaque, and Makati. He is already touring the Visayas to make sure that the chiefs understand he is serious about his directive. If Gen. Torre is seriously pursuing his directives, the affected police officers need to start losing weight. But despite his strict directives regarding emergency response time and ideal weight, I hope that the fight against corruption in the PNP and criminality throughout the country will not be sidelined. Many PNP chiefs have come and gone, all with their plans and goals to improve the efficiency of the police force and its image. Most, if not all, fell short. Let’s hope Gen. Torre becomes the exception.