PNP bans anew the wearing of police uniform
Only active–duty members of the Philippine National Police can wear the police uniform.
This stern warning is contained in a memorandum of PNP National Headquarters directing police personnel assigned in beat, foot, bike, mobile patrols as well as those deployed in chokepoints/checkpoints “to flag down and accost with courtesy any person wearing police uniform or any clothing with PNP/POLICE/PULIS markings and other suspicious looking persons and those riding in tandem on a motorcycle to validate/verify their true identity.”
The order came out in response to a series of crime incidents perpetrated by suspects wearing PNP athletic attire and general office attire (GOA) uniform.
In October last year 10 heavily-armed men posing as cops clad in SWAT shirts broke into St. Scholastica's College in Malate, Manila, disarming its security guards and taking away their guns and other valuables.
Last April, at least 10 heavily armed men in police uniforms botched an attempt to rob a mall in Malabon City when they panicked and fled after triggering an alarm as they tried to open the mall’s safety vault.
Another incident cited in the memorandum was the robbery with kidnapping at Brgy. Docoloc, Jimenez, Misamis Occidental.
To recall, last year the PNP launched a new clothesline and vowed to crack down against its unauthorized use and distribution.
Police Regional Office 6 Director, Police Chief Superintendent Isagani R Cuevas said the new uniforms would help clean the police’s image, which had been tarnished by criminals who had worn the uniform to accomplish a crime.
He added that under the law, offenders will be held liable for violation of articles 177 (Usurpation of Authority or Official Functions) and 179 (Illegal Use of Uniforms or Insignia) of the Revised Penal Code that imposes imprisonment terms to those convicted.
He also cited Executive Order No. 297 (Regulating the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of PNP uniforms, insignia, and other accoutrements), which orders the “immediate closure of the establishment, plant or office where the uniforms and other items are illegally manufactured, stored, sold or distributed.”
With the reiteration of this policy, Cuevas sent a memorandum reminding all police personnel to observe “Tamang Bihis” project. (POIII Francisco B Lindero Jr)