Metro cops poor and underpaid

The typical Metro Manila cop goes home to a wife and two or three kids in a small rented room or in a shanty in the slums. His monthly pay is barely enough to cover their basic needs. Rent and the children’s school tuition eat up the biggest chunks of his salary. He is in debt with a bank or a provident fund to the tune of P125,000, and payment for principal and interest take away what’s left.

This snapshot of the cop on the beat was taken from an eight-month research commissioned by Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco, PNP chief for Metro Manila. What the Variates of the University of the Phil. and the CORPS Movement actually conducted was more of a census than a random poll. They sent out two-page questionnaires to all 13,200 officers and men assigned to the National Capital Region Police Office. Seventy-one percent, or 9,383, responded to queries on their take-home pay, other sources of income, loans and savings if any, house rent or loan payments, and monthly family expenses. All five districts of the metropolitan command were represented. The results were published in the latest issue of Cops magazine, written by Abe Belena.

Not surprisingly, most of the cops are male, and 69 percent are married. Exactly 2,923 of them, or 32 of every 100, take home less than P5,000 a month. They are among the poorest of the poor. The National Statistics Office recently pegged at P8,877 the monthly income needed by a family of five to survive in the Big City. Another 2,989, or 32.7 percent, have a net pay of P5,000 to P9,999 a month – still below or just a little above the poverty line. All told, two-thirds of the police force belong to the lower classes that also make up two-thirds of the metropolitan population.

One-fifth of them, or 1,807, earn P10,000 to P14,999 a month. Only a tenth, the highest ranking officers, make P15,000 to P25,000 a month, still a small sum compared to managers who oversee hundreds of workers and make two to four times more.

Curiously, most of the poorest policemen, 42 of every 100, are in the Eastern Police District. The Western police (Manila) has the lowest number of poor cops.

The starvation wage forces them to borrow heavily. Nine out of ten policemen are up to their noses in debt of P50,000 to P250,000 from a bank or savings-and-loan association. Monthly amortizations automatically are deducted from their pay.

Only half have some cash saved up for a rainy day, and most of those lucky ones can brag of only P2,000 in the bank. Only 14 of every 100 have savings of more than P4,000. For whatever reason, most of the savers are in the Central District (Quezon City). The spenders are in Manila.

Some policemen strive to earn a little extra to augment their meager salaries, but they’re only a minority of 34.5 percent, against the 65.5 percent who depend only on their subsistent pay. The enterprising go into small businesses like corner stores or selling clothing and driving jeepneys on dayoffs. Others make investments of P10,000 to P25,000.

Most of the city’s cops hail from provinces in Luzon. A third of them rent cramped rooms for the P5,000 they take home. Fourteen of every 100 have a house but no lot; meaning, they squat on the land. Others shack up their families with relatives. Only 8.6 percent, or 734 policemen, are housed in official quarters.

Next to room rentals or housing loans, a big slice of a policeman’s income goes to education – that great Filipino dream. Each cop on the average is sending two to three children to school. Expenses for tuition, books and allowances range from P5,000 to P15,000 a month. Even unmarried policemen are seeing a brother or sister through college, typical of Filipino families.

With salaries barely meeting basic expenses, it’s a wonder how cops make ends meet. Their hand-to-mouth earnings are augmented by well-off relatives, another typical Filipino trait.

Predictably, a big majority of the city’s policemen, three of every four, say they are underpaid. The most vocal are those at the poverty threshold.

The researchers suggested ways to ease the policeman’s burden. Pay increase naturally topped the list. Congress recently approved a salary upgrade, with the lowest ranking Police Officer-1 to get a little over P12,000, still not enough considering the demands of police work.

Since 90.2 percent of metropolitan cops are deep in debt, researchers proposed that government find easy credit for them in lieu of the 38- to 150-percent yearly interest they have cough up. Corollarily, they suggested a campaign to instill a culture of savings to replace that of borrowing.

Another recommendation is to offer livelihood programs for the families of over half of the force that depends solely on their salaries. Velasco sees no problem with this. "Policemen are college graduates, they most likely are married to persons with similar educational attainment," he explains. "It won’t be difficult to teach them skills or help start them off on small businesses." A pilot project has been launched at the NCRPO’s headquarters in Bicutan, Taguig.

Housing is of utmost concern. Living in the slums can compromise a policeman. He has to play ball with the local toughies, lest they molest his family while he’s on 36-hour duty. Velasco laments that he has such a small budget for housing, and was able to build only a few dozen units in a corner of the headquarters compound. He needs help from other agencies and private low-cost developers. Same with scholarship grants for police dependents.

For the pay they get, cops nonetheless are expected to be high performers. Metro Manilans in a recent survey assigned desirable traits on their cops. Being godly rated 30 percent; trustworthy, 19 ; quick to respond, 16; respectable, 7; humane, 6; respects the law, 6.

The most undesirable traits are: corrupt, 32 percent; involved in illegal activities, 17; abusive, 16; low morality, 6; vulgar or ill-mannered, 6.

All those expectations from cops who barely earn enough to keep body and soul together.

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Catch Sapol ni Jarius Bondoc, Saturdays, 8 a.m., on DWIZ (882-AM).

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