GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 June) – In a bid to strengthen its security operations, the Police Regional Office 12 has beefed up the region’s police force with some 299 new police officers.
Chief Supt. Benjardi Mantele, acting Region 12 police director, said Monday the additional police officers were part of the region’s quota under the initial phase of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) newly-launched Attrition Recruitment Program.
He said the regional office officially absorbed the new police recruits last June 15 following their completion of the PNP’s recruitment process.
The police official said the recruits will initially undergo the six-month Public Safety Basic Recruit Course at the PNP’s regional training school here before they would be deployed to various police units in the region.
Region 12 covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
“The new recruits will later assume some of the vacant positions in our local police offices and stations,” he said.
Mantele said the PNP leadership launched the Attrition Recruitment Program to facilitate the hiring of additional police personnel based on the needs of local police units.
Under program, he said the PNP initiated major changes in its traditional recruitment procedure, starting with the screening process that is now done at the local level.
Mantele said the screening and endorsement of the police applicants were all made by the established municipal and city ad hoc screening committees.
He said they also amended the sequential stages of the recruitment process by conducting the neuro-psychiatric examination ahead of the physical agility test and the final interview to ensure the mental and psychological condition of the applicants.
Mantele said that out of the 530 applications that were assessed by the local screening committee, the regional office endorsed the appointment of 325 applicants for the rank of Police Officer I.
But he said they later reduced the number of female appointees from 84 to 56 in compliance with a memorandum from the PNP central office that the appointed female applicants should not be less than 10 percent and not more than 15 percent of their class.
Mantele assured that the 26 other female applicants who were cut from the current recruitment class would be prioritized in the second phase of the recruitment program, which is scheduled to open by next month. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)