The Philippine National Police (PNP) is looking at getting more recruits to better serve the country’s growing population, despite the force being authorized to get just 1,000 recruits this year — much lower than the 4,000 recruits hired in 2022.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez discussed this in their meeting late Monday, the PNP Public Information Office said in a news release on Tuesday.
Currently, the PNP has a strength of 227,000 officers and staff, securing the country’s 110 million population.
Aside from additional manpower, PNP spokesperson Col. Red Maranan said they are looking to recruit additional police officers next year and to beef up its technology and equipment.
Maranan said Romualdez expressed his support for these improvements.
The Speaker agreed on the necessity of an enhanced drive against criminality that includes a sustained crackdown on illegal firearms and increased police visibility across the country along with ongoing programs for improved intelligence-gathering capability and training of policemen.
Romualdez committed the solid support of the House of Representatives for a genuine intensified campaign of law enforcement authorities against crime to ensure the safety of every citizen.
The House leader sought the meeting with Abalos and Azurin following recent incidents of gun-related violence against certain local officials and hapless civilians.
Despite the high-profile crimes that occurred recently, Abalos and Azurin told Romualdez the overall crime rate relatively went down.
“We gave Sec. Abalos and Gen. Azurin our assurance that the House of Representatives would be open to providing the PNP with adequate funding support and other resources — as well as new legislation if necessary — to buttress the campaign against crime, which is our shared concern,” Romualdez said.
Azurin said the country’s crime rate has dropped by 19.49 percent from January to Feb. 25 this year as compared to the same period in 2022, amid the spate of attacks against local officials this month.
On Monday, the PNP chief said there is a continuing decline in peace and order indicators, particularly index crimes, from 6,141 in January to Feb. 25 in 2022 down to 4,944 for the same period this year.
“I had been reporting every week as I said the crime environment in our country is going down. It was unfortunate that there have been shooting incidents against our elected local officials wherein the PNP is now working on the double to determine the identities of the suspects and bring them to justice,” Azurin told reporters at Camp Crame.