ILOILO City – The recruitment of new police officers will resume any time from now, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Gorero, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
For the first quarter of the year (January to March), the PRO-6 was supposed to hire 434 new policemen.
The recruitment process, however, was halted due to the quarantine imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Thus, according to Gorero, “hundreds” of applications were pending.
“We are waiting for the go-signal from the national headquarters to resume the recruitment process. The applicants will resume their medical tests that were stopped in March,” said Gorero.
It was on the third week of March that the community quarantine across Western Visayas effected.
The Philippine National Police national headquarters’ director for Human Resource Doctrine and Development, Police Major General Amador Corpus, recently announced that the recruitment program will resume under the supervision of the newly-established PNP Recruitment and Selection Service (PNP-RSS).
The halted 1st quarter 2020 Recruitment and Regular Attrition Quota for Patrolman and Patrolwoman and lateral entry program will continue, he stressed.
The goal is to further strengthen the 205,000-strong police force.
Corpus said other mandatory career training courses and recruitment will also resume but strict health safety guidelines will be observed such as social distancing and wearing of facemask.
Other minimum health safety practices set by the PNP Health Service include the prohibition on sharing and borrowing of personal belongings such as pens, phones, notebooks, laptops, and others./PN
