Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa questioned a National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) memorandum circular that seems to affect the promotion of officers in the Philippine National Police (PNP).
During the Senate plenary deliberations on the Department of the Interior and Local Government's (DILG) proposed budget for 2025, Dela Rosa raised the concerns of PNP officers about the memorandum circular which provided that all mandatory and specialized training of police officers will not be counted to accumulate the prescribed time in grade requirement in a particular rank.
Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, said this is the first time that he heard of such a policy, which he believes, discourages police officers from taking advanced classes for their promotions.
"Ni-re-require pa natin ang ating mga tao na mag-schooling as a requirement for promotion. Ngayon, hindi na natin ika-count 'yung kanilang schooling sa time in grade (We still require our people to pursue education as a prerequisite for promotion. However, we will no longer count their schooling towards their time in grade)," Dela Rosa quipped.
"Mahirap intindihin ng ordinaryong pulis dahil first time ito nangyari...Ibig sabihin pag nag-schooling ka ng mandatory schooling or specialized schooling, parang wala kang ranggo noon kasi hindi counted 'yung panahon na 'yun (It's hard for an ordinary police officer to understand because this is the first time it's happened... It means that when you go through mandatory or specialized training, it's as if you don't have a rank during that time because that period doesn't count)," he explained.
For Dela Rosa, this new memorandum from the NAPOLCOM affects the morale and welfare of the PNP officers.
"Nakaka-demoralize talaga ito...Lahat naman tayo gustong happy ang ating kapulisan because they are serving this country and they're offering their lives in the service of this country. So, marapat lamang na dapat happy sila, hindi sila malungkot (This is really demoralizing... We all want our police to be happy because they are serving this country and risking their lives in that service. It's only right that they should be happy, not sad)," the Mindanaoan lawmaker stressed.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, who defended the budget of the DILG, admitted that the NAPOLCOM had a mistake in the wordings of the memorandum circular that Dela Rosa questioned.
"Dapat po yun ay time and position at ang nangyari po dito ay binabago, nire-reorganize 'yung NAPOLCOM and nakakasigurado po kayo, your honor, na once na ma-reorganize ang NAPOLCOM, mag-i-isyu ng bagong circular rectifying all these errors which your honor just mentioned. So itatama po ito (It should be about time and position, and what has happened here is that NAPOLCOM is being changed and reorganized. You can be assured, your honor, that once NAPOLCOM is reorganized, a new circular will be issued to rectify all the errors you just mentioned. This will be corrected," said Tolentino, who was speaking on behalf of the DILG)," Tolentino, who was speaking on behalf of the DILG, said.
Dela Rosa welcomed the DILG's response, saying it would be better for the policemen's promotion if the "time in grade" term in the memorandum circular was replaced with "time in position."
"That is beneficial to the policeman kasi [if it is] time in position, nag-schooling ka for six months, tapos 'yung position na 'yan requires na at least one year ka lang d'yan, nabawasan ka na ng six months sa position na 'yan dahil nag-schooling ka na," the former top cop-turned-senator explained.
"I'm sure that we are in agreement as far as our position in this particular policy [is concerned]," Dela Rosa said.