DILG to hire 10,000 new cops in 2010

MANILA, Philippines - At least 10,000 new policemen will be hired by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2010 alone to help strengthen its capability to maintain peace and order, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday.

“We will be hiring another 10,000 by 2010,” DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno, who also chairs the National Police Commission (Napolcom), said. “So that would be 25,000 new cops in four years.”

Since he assumed the top post at the DILG in 2006, Puno said the PNP was able to increase the number of its uniformed personnel by more than 15,000 as of this year.

The PNP has been recruiting an average of 3,000 new policemen and policewomen each year since Puno was reappointed DILG secretary in 2006.

From 111,638 policemen in 2006, the number of PNP uniformed personnel will increase to 127,234 in 2009, representing an addition of 15,596 more police officers; while fire officers will increase from 14,376 to 15,648 this year.

On Puno’s watch, the DILG budget went up by 44 percent from P43.681 billion in 2006 to P62.937 billion in 2009.

The budget increase has enabled the DILG to hire more policemen and public safety officers, procure additional equipment to better maintain peace and order, and increase the salaries and pensions of its rank-and-file.

From P35.196 billion in January 2006, or before Puno took over as DILG chief, the budget of the PNP increased 34.3 percent to P47.268 billion in 2009; the appropriations for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) rose from P3.66 billion to P6.824 billion, representing an 86.1 percent jump; while that of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) rose even higher, by 86.6 percent, from P2.246 billion to P4.192 billion.

The number of jail officers to secure the country’s district, municipal and city jails is expected to increase from 7,399 in 2006 to 8,899 this year.

In terms of logistics, the PNP was able to procure 2,445 additional patrol cars and 28 patrol boats to increase its mobility and visibility, while the BFP was able to beef up its fleet to 1,790 fire trucks this year to help improve its firefighting capability.

In the BJMP, the number of prisoner vans increased 158 percent from 134 in 2006 to 346 this year.