Res Gestae
Opportunity for reform
If the youth is the hope of the nation, the recruits promise new hope for an organization.
This must be the case for the Philippine National Police. Every year there are at least two phases of recruitment being conducted by the PNP, and this means a thousand or more of neophyte police officers are added to its ranks.
The recruitment is not a mere mode of filling in the vacant positions. Its purpose is not only to replenish the depleting strengths of the police force due to retirement, death, resignation and dismissal of its members. The recruitment is an avenue of good opportunities for the organization. It is an opportunity to (re)start the transformation and reform.
I am in a contention that, if there is any point for the PNP to begin its transformation program, it must be with its new members. Recruits are tabula rasa. They take everything and anything presented to them. They simply accept and submit. Regardless if such decision is motivated by fear or rooted from their personal conviction.
It is a fact that change often faces resistance with the old members of the organization. They are used to the 'old ways' and anything 'new' is simply difficult. Impractical. Unrealistic.
Let's take the Mamang Pulis / Aleng Pulis program. To those who have been in the PNP for a decade or more, Mamang Pulis / Aleng Pulis is seemingly a misnomer. They may think the program poses impossibility in gaining back into the police force the quintessential characteristics of being God-fearing, humane, presentable, approachable, and dependable.
Well, with the clout of irregularities, nay crimes, involving police officers in all level of PNP echelon, it is but tempting to assume that the organization is hopeless. But, that thought is only of those desperate members.
The PNP, with its continued Recruitment Program, has big chances of keeping good on its transformation program. It may take years or even a decade more, but it is surely on its way for a better police force.
Last September 1 the PNP commenced with the second phase of its Attrition Recruitment Program. This signals another opportunity to reform the organization. Before this year ends, more than a thousand of neophyte police officers will join the ranks of the great PNP. They are the young men and women full of idealism for service beyond the call of duty. And, it is our hope that they become a new breed of real law enforcers who epitomize the Mamang Pulis and Aleng Pulis.
(Comments to rogatepnp@yahoo.com or 09193161190.)