CEBU CITY – The next 12 months will be a period of serious learning for a group of police commissioned officers.
FORTY-EIGHT police lieutenant colonels flash the finger heart sign during a photo for the National Security Policy and Strategy Forum on Monday, July 29, at the amphitheater of the municipal hall of Consolacion town, Cebu. (Calvin D. Cordova)
Forty-eight officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) with the rank of lieutenant colonels are taking part in the Public Safety Officers Senior Executive Course (PSOSEC) and the Public Safety Officers Advance Course (PSOAC).
Participants from Visayas and Mindanao were on hand during the National Security Policy and Strategy Forum that started on Monday, July 29, and ended on Tuesday, July 30, at the amphitheater of the municipal hall of Consolacion town, Cebu.
Officials from the Philippine Public Safety, National Security Council (NSC), and PNP facilitated the forum, which is part of the 12-month course needed by police lieutenant colonels to be promoted to full colonels.
“This is mandatory for second-level officers. This is important because this will allow us to broaden our knowledge on the top management supervisory level of the PNP,” said Police Lt. Col. Franco Rodulf Oriol, assistant chief of the Community Affairs and Development Division of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO-7).
A similar activity is being held simultaneously in Silang, Cavite.
Oriol said the 12-month schooling is different from other courses that police officers would undergo.
“It has greater significance as it gives emphasis on management and supervisory capabilities of a senior PNP. It also involves other subjects needed by top level officers to be promoted to the next level,” Oriol added.
Aside from lessons on leadership, the course will also tackle national security policies being taken up by the national government.
Those who will be promoted after finishing the course are expected to lead certain police units.
“Right after we are promoted to police major, we are set to be a chief of police of a certain municipality because that’s the requirement of the PNP,” said Police Lt. Col. Judesses Catalogo, spokesperson of the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office.
While the PNP’s task is more on public safety, the course will also tackle national security to help prepare the participants for bigger roles.
“Although the job of the PNP is more on public security, this is part of the diversity of leadership that may come out because we may face different kinds of crises in our respective units and offices,” said Catalogo.
Participants will also improve their level of knowledge about cyber security.
Catalogo said learning more about cyber security is a must for police officials as it is one of the areas that the PNP is looking to improve.
“That’s the biggest struggle of the PNP. The cyber security section is one of the categories that needs to be upgraded,” Catalogo said.
The NSC is among the lecturers of the year-long course.
“We have invited the NSC to discuss the national security policy and strategy with the police officers so that they will know how to contribute to the strategy of national security. It will help them know where to position themselves for their contribution to the goal of national security,” said Jamine Rodrigues, learning manager of PSOSEC.
The goal of PSOSEC is to always update public safety education to the needs of the country, Rodrigues said.
“We need to interconnect with other agencies so that education will be holistic and the people on the ground or the leaders of public safety can address it well and have a unified move towards our national goal on security,” said Rodrigues.