NEW PNP MEMBERS. A total of 199 men and women who were screened from the 1,185 applicants complete the new policemen who took their oath during Thursday’s oath-taking ceremony and donning of ranks of two police colonels at Camp Bado Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet. Their oath-taking makes them eligible to receive the PHP29,668 monthly salary for patrolman and patrolwomen of the Philippine National Police. (PNA photo Joshua Elisha Soriano)
CAMP DANGWA, LA TRINIDAD, Benguet –A total of 199 men and women took their oath on Thursday as new members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the regional headquarters here.
The batch is composed of 152 males and 47 females. They were chosen from 1,185 applicants at the start of the recruitment process for this batch.
Starting day 1 in the service, the new police personnel will be eligible to receive PHP29,668 monthly basic salary that they will get via their Land Bank Automatic Teller Machine cards.
Police Regional Office Cordillera director Brig. Gen. Israel Ephraim Dickson said the 199 will have their six-month training at the Cordillera Administrative Region Training Center located at Teachers Camp, Baguio City starting Thursday.
This will be followed by another six months of immersion or Field Training Program at the police stations prior to their deployment to their assignments.
“Inilalagay natin sila sa regional mobile force battalion bago sila ma-assign sa mga istayon (They are initially assigned at the regional mobile force battalion before they are deployed to the police stations),” Dickson said.
The oath-taking was simultaneous with the donning of the rank of two police colonels, who received on January 27 their appointment from President Rodrigo Duterte.
In his message, Col. Laureano Alexie Marinas advised the recruits to be truthful to their duty, always be respectful and follow the rules as such virtues made him survive the ranks from a non-officer to what he is now, a colonel.
“In our career as police officers, we will take off… but we must make sure to land safely,” Mariñas said.
Col. Mario Mayames, one of the heroes of Marawi siege, who also received his appointment said obedience taught from home which he brought with him to the Philippine National Police Academy as a cadet made him survive the rigors of the training and service.
Mayames served three Presidents as a member of the Presidential Security Group and is a full-blooded Special Action Force trooper.
Mayames detailed how he rose from the rank, carrying the lessons of obedience until now.
Meanwhile, Dickson, in his message to the new police personnel, said the oath-taking is just the start of a new life for the 199.
“You will don today the uniform of the PNP. You will be a different person, leave your civilian antics and start being uniformed personnel serving the Filipinos and the flag that represents it,” he said.
“You will be putting duty, service, honor, and justice over and above your personal comfort. Swear allegiance to duly established authority, defend the constitution, and most of all, serve the Filipino nation without a hint of reservation,” he said.
Dickson also reminded the new policemen to help pursue the anti-terror, anti-illegal drugs and other anti-criminality programs of the Duterte administration.
He said to serve the country through the PNP is not just self-fulfilling, it also provides a good job, income, and protection especially with the benefits that President Duterte has given as part of the benefits of the police.
He advised the youth who wishes to join the PNP to take their studies seriously and finish a college degree.
“The PNP is a professional organization only college graduates are admitted to the services, it is a basic requirement,” Dickson said.
He also told them to obtain the National Police Commission eligibility or Civil Service eligibility, or pass the board examination in any college course.
“Dapat mag-aral ang mga kabataan at hinihikayat ko silang pumasok sa pulis (The youth must study well and I encourage them to join the police),” Dickson said.
Cordillera has a police force of around 6,700. /Liza Agoot (With reports from Joshua Elisha Soriano/ PNA)
