House bill eyes similar police, military rank nomenclature

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to return the rank classification of Philippine National Police (PNP) members equivalent to their counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Voting 166-6, congressmen gave their imprimatur to House Bill 5236, authored by retired police general and now Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop.

Acop wanted to modify the PNP personnel’s rank classification by adopting those used in the military, which he said is for purposes of clarity of position and responsibility.

Acop heads the House committee on public order and safety. The bill is co-authored by Pangasinan Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano.

Bataoil is a former police general while Alejano is a former Marine captain.

The administration measure also foresees effective and efficient administration and supervision in the PNP through modification of the rank classification of the organization’s uniformed personnel.

Acop said the bill aims to address public confusion on the present rank of PNP officers with the use of such terms as “superintendent” and “inspector” which were borrowed primarily from Western and European jurisdictions. “Despite the usage of such terms for the last 20 years, the public seems to have been more accustomed to the use of rank classification using military terminologies such as ‘general’, ‘colonel’, or ‘sergeant’ as previously used in the police force,” he said.

The bill provides for the amendment of Section 28 of Republic Act 6975, otherwise known as the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, so that the PNP rank classification would be from director general to police general.

The rank of deputy director general would be police lieutenant general, a director would be police major general and chief superintendent would be police brigadier general.

A senior superintendent would be police colonel; superintendent to police lieutenant colonel; chief inspector to police major; senior inspector to police captain and inspector to police lieutenant.

Non-commissioned police ranks like senior police officer 4 would be police master sergeant; senior police officer 3 to police technical sergeant; senior police officer 2 to police staff sergeant and senior police officer I to police sergeant.

A police officer 3 would be renamed police corporal; police officer 2 to patrolman first class and police officer I would be patrolman.

The remaining provisions of RA 6975, as amended by RA 8551 (PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998) that have reference to the rank classification of the uniformed PNP personnel, and all other laws, EOs, rules and regulations inconsistent with the provisions of the proposed act shall be deemed modified or repealed accordingly.