PNP can take back 'Biggest Loser'

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said yesterday the police force can re-admit the first grand winner in the “Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition,” who resigned from the service amid the 34-inch waistline limit program in 1999.

Bartolome admitted that even before the show concluded last Saturday, he had ordered a check on the track record of Larry Martin, a former Police Officer 1, who left the service in March 2002 for failure to meet the “34-waistline policy” of former PNP chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

The PNP chief met with the instant celebrity for losing 101 pounds after only 125 days inside the camp where he and 15 other contestants underwent rigid physical fitness training.

“Martin can be assigned in a physical fitness unit. He could serve as an inspiration to others that everything is possible if a person has determination to achieve something,” Bartolome said.

Through the ABS-CBN’s “Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition” this year, Martin shed 101 pounds from 225 pounds to 154 and trimmed down his waistline from 49 inches to only 29 inches.

For his part, Martin vowed to do his best to inspire other policemen to become fit, physically and emotionally.