MANILA, Philippines - Unemployed? Consider a job in the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The PNP needs more than 34,000 police officers and civilian personnel this year and in 2015.
The policy and research center of the House of Representatives said the PNP has 15,952 unfilled positions for police officers and 7,964 for civilian personnel or a total of 23,916.
The PNP is authorized to recruit an additional 10,000 police officers next year, the center added.
Of the PNP’s 164,410 authorized positions for this year, 148,458 have been filled.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II told the House appropriations committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab that the number of uniformed personnel in relation to the country’s population “is still far from ideal” even if all budgeted positions for police officers are filled.
“We need to have a police force of 200,000 to achieve the ideal ratio of one policeman for every 500 citizens,” Roxas said.
He said the PNP is encountering difficulties in recruiting police officers “because of stringent qualification requirements.”
Roxas asked National Police Commission vice chairman Eduardo Escueta to explain the requirements.
Escueta said the qualifying examination for police officers is so hard that “we have a high failure rate, and only 15 to 20 examinees hurdle the exam.”
Recruits must be college graduates, who have to pass a rigorous physical and neuropsychiatric examinations, apart from the written test, he added.
Entry-level salary is around P15,000 per month.
Many local governments still do not have fire and police stations and fire trucks, Roxas said.