PNP (Mark Balmores/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte is eyeing the expansion of the Philippine National Police's (PNP) lateral entry program so it may cover the recruitment of highly technical people like aeronautical engineers, molecular biologists psychologists, and information technology (IT) experts.

For this purpose, Duterte filed House Bill (HB) No.7686, or the prospered Act amending Section 33 of Republic Act (RA) 6975, or The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Act of 1990, to include other baccalaureate degrees to the lateral entry program for line and technical officers.

“The hiring of professionals with highly technical qualifications, which will be done through the PNP’s lateral entry program, will significantly help the police organization keep people safe from crime  and other threats to public safety at a time when criminals have turned to technology and other sophisticated means to commit their illegal acts,” Duterte said in justifying the bill.

Benguet lone Rep. Eric Yap and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Edvic Yap served as the Davao solon's co-authors in the bill, which is pending before the House Committee on Public Order and Safety.

The authors said that through the measure, more professionals will be recruited to the PNP in a bid to further strengthen its human resource and technical capabilities.

These will then be used to address various challenges in the institution’s campaign against criminality, illegal drugs, violent extremism, lawlessness, terrorism, and natural or man-made disasters, among others.

The measure also aims to institutionalize the appointment of graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) to the initial rank of Police Lieutenant, instead of Police Inspector under RA 6975.

Under the measure, the lateral entry of officers to the PNP shall include “all those with highly technical qualifications,” such as aeronautical engineers, chemical engineers, computer engineers, chemists, civil engineers, criminologists, dentists, electrical engineers,  electronics engineers, molecular biologists, naval architects, and nuclear physicists.

Professionals in the fields of guidance and counseling, sports medicine, and veterinary medicine;  mechanical engineers, medical technologists, metallurgical engineers, nurses, nutritionists and dieticians, optometrists, physical therapists, psychologists, psychometricians, social workers, IT professionals, and graduates of forensic sciences are also included in the proposed expansion of the PNP’s lateral entry program.

“Abovementioned professionals shall be accommodated to the PNP service to fill up vacancies in any of the PNP offices/units for technical services, provided they possess an appropriate PRC or CSP eligibility,” the bill states.

These professionals will be appointed with the rank of Police Lieutenant, as provided under the bill.

HB No.7686 also provides that doctors of medicine, members of the Bar, priests/pastors/imams, and licensed aircraft pilots shall be appointed to the rank of Police Captain under the PNP’s lateral entry program.

Lateral entry is a provision under RA 6975 that allows the appointment of police commissioned officers (PCOs) to fill up the vacancies for the line and technical service positions in the PNP.