Lacson pushes new PNP rank system
SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday raised the need for the Philippine National Police (PNP) to adopt a rank classification system to coordinate better with other law enforcement agencies in operations against crime and terrorism.
The Senate recently passed on third and final reading a bill providing for a new rank classification system in the PNP.
Senate Bill 2031, which Lacson authored, seeks a more common rank nomenclature to standardize how law enforcers are called.
“This measure is geared towards our collective pursuit of eliminating confusion on how our law enforcers must be addressed and, ultimately bringing our policemen closer to the populace,” Lacson said.
“In order to maintain its clear distinction from the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the ranks to be used in addressing the PNP personnel shall be preceded by the word ‘ Police’,” he said.
Under the bill, the PNP rank classification shall be as follows: Director- General to Police General; Deputy Director- General to Police Lieutenant General; Director to Police Major General; Chief Superintendent to Police Brigadier General; Senior Superintendent to Police Colonel; Superintendent to Police Lieutenant Colonel; Chief Inspector to Police Major; Senior Inspector to Police Captain; Inspector to Police Lieutenant;
SPO4 to Police Executive Master Sergeant; SPO3 to Police Chief Master Sergeant; SPO2 to Police Senior Master Sergeant; SPO1 to Police Master Sergeant;
PO3 to Police Staff Sergeant; PO2 to Police Corporal; and PO1 to Patrolman/Patrolwoman.
“As hyperbolic as it may sound, we cannot afford any delay in coordination in counter-terrorism operations and operations against other threats to national security,” said Lacson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
“Experiences both of our policemen and soldiers tell us that unnecessary lags occur when one still finds it necessary to check who his or her counterpart from the police or military,” he said.
Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001, said the rank classification specified in Senate Bill 2031 “will not take away the civilian character of the PNP, much less militarize it.”
SB 2031 seeks to amend Section 28 of Republic Act 6975 as amended, also known as the Department of Interior and Local Government Act of 1990.
He said that the Department of Justice, through a letter signed by Undersecretary Emmeline AglipayVillar, said it “finds no clear and categorical infringement of the Constitution.”
“Because of this, the PNP shall continue to adopt a service- oriented outlook in consonance with its existing police- community relations doctrine consistent with its sworn duty ‘ To Serve and Protect’,” Lacson said.