PRO-6 admits 350 new police recruits
Three hundred fifty new recruits of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) took their oath yesterday before top police and local government officials at the parade grounds of Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo City.
PRO-6 regional director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas said the new police recruits will be deployed after their six months rigid training to various places in the region especially those lacking police personnel.
The new recruits, officially having a rank of Police Officer 1 (PO1), will have their six-month Police Basic Recruit Course (PBRC) at Regional Training School 6 in Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
PBRC comprises six months Field Training Program, and 45-day Special Counter-Intelligence Operations Unit Training (SCOUT).
Meanwhile, the 87 female police recruits underwent pregnancy test before taking their oath of office yesterday. The test is to ensure that they fit in the rigorous basic police training courses.
Fortunately, none of the female applicants got positive result.
Cuevas stressed, pregnancy is a bar to police training.
“The rule does not only apply to police recruits, it may also apply to our policewomen who are applying for career courses, where physical rigors would endanger the fetus,” he said.
“Also, if they get pregnant while on training, they will be dismissed from the service, in the case of the recruits whose appointments are yet on temporary status. Should it happen to policewomen undergoing career courses, they may be deferred from the training,” Cuevas added.
Cuevas stressed this rule is not to deprive pregnant women of the opportunity for employment or training but to protect the life of the unborn.
“Our basic mandate is to protect people’s lives. The fetus needs more that protection than anyone of us does,” he said.
The 350 new police recruits is part of this year’s PNP Regular and Attrition Recruitment program.
Each of them will receive P15,126.00 gross pay, inclusive of P9,466.00 basic pay and other fringe benefits. (With reports from POIII Francisco B. Lindero Jr)