Duterte signs law giving PNP control over police training

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police will soon take over the training of police recruits following the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte signed Republic Act 11279 or the law transferring the responsibility to train police recruits from the Philippine Public Safety College to the PNP last April 12. A copy of the law was released to the media Thursday.

This means the PNP now has the administrative and operational supervision and control over the Philippine National Police Academy and the National Police Training Institute.

The PNPA is the “premier institution for police education and the primary source for commissionship of police lieutenants.” It will be under the direct administrative and operational supervision and control of the PNP chief.

The NPTI, meanwhile, trains non-commissioned officers.

The measure is a consolidation of House Bill 8628 and Senate Bill 1898 passed by the upper and lower houses last January 23.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the bill’s author in Senate, said the transfer of responsibility and accountability for police personnel should help in the police force’s internal cleansing.

“We have seen how police officers, many of them non-commissioned ones with the ranks of PO1 and PO2, had been involved in heinous crimes. It's about time we revisit the law to make the PNP the premier educational and training institution for our policemen and policewomen,” he said in August 2018. — Gaea Katreena Cabico