Just fire their fat asses

The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Director General Ricardo Marquez, has proposed to Congress the opening of the police force to graduates of the K-12 program, reasoning that a college degree for those applying to join the police force is not a requirement in other countries.

At the Senate hearing on the modernization of the PNP, Senator Grace Poe expressed agreement with Marquez and vowed to author a bill which, if passed into law, would not limit entry into the PNP to holders of four-year college degrees.

However, the Civil Service Commission, through lawyer Krunimar Escudero, has expressed reservations over Marquez’s brainchild on the grounds that it would run counter to the government’s initiative to professionalize the police force.

The problem at present, according to Marquez, is that many rookie policemen are reluctant to patrol the streets as they are college graduates. He said graduates of the K-12 program, once admitted into the PNP, should not see conducting foot patrols as being beneath their dignity.

In short, to Marquez’s mind, the graduates of the K-12 program would just be too happy to have a secure job at the PNP even without going to college, so much so that they would gladly accept even the tasks considered by college graduates as menial.

Aside from conducting foot patrols, the K-12 recruits of the PNP, with the rank of “patrolman”, can also serve as force multipliers or as drivers of PNP vehicles, said Marquez.  But if they want to be promoted to the present lowest rank of Police Officer 1, they should still study on the side for a college degree, he added.

The question now is if and when the PNP is allowed to have recruits from the K-12 program, would they also be given guns at the tender age of 17 or 18? Would they already have the emotional maturity to be in possession of a deadly weapon?

Would the K-12 PNP recruits not be more susceptible to being corrupted into becoming criminal themselves engaged in hulidap (arrest-holdup), extortion and protection rackets?

One last thing, with the K-12 PNP, wouldn’t the college graduate recruits of the PNP be even more lazy and reluctant to do their jobs? From where we sit, Marquez should just fire the college graduate recruits of the PNP who just sit on their fat asses. –End-

Image by: PhilStar