Senator Bato dela Rosa wants to produce at least one police officer from every barangay in the country to ensure enough personnel at the grassroots level and familiarity in the area of responsibility which will lead to an efficient police service.
Dela Rosa, who also served in the Philippine National Police (PNP) for at least 30 years, said he had already filed a bill that will provide a scholarship program for aspiring police officers.
“There are still some barangays that lack the ideal number of PNP personnel.”
The legislator stressed that at present, there are still some barangays that lack the ideal number of PNP personnel to maintain peace and order and perform other crime prevention duties.
The lawmaker also stressed on the importance of a police officer’s familiarity with his area of responsibility for a more competent service to the community.
“We will screen and identify children who possess the passion to serve the country as a policeman.”
“My vision is to have at least one scholar to be a policeman from every barangay in the country. We will screen and identify children who possess the passion to serve the country as a policeman, kunin natin sila then we invest on them to be an officer of our PNP, in that way hindi na tayo mahihirapan to have sufficient number of policemen in the barangay,” Dela Rosa said.
“Meron kasing ibang mga barangay na talagang kulang na kulang sa pulis dahil konti lang ang nag a-apply. Yung iba naman after graduating from training, naila-lagay sa ibang lugar kaya hindi nila kabisado ang every nook and cranny of the area, so dapat homegrown ang pulis, after graduating, diyan siya sa lugar niya ma-assign,” he continued.
“I am sure mahal niya ang lugar niya kaya sigurado din na hindi siya magloloko at di siya gagawa ng kalokohan,” Dela Rosa added.
Dela Rosa also chairs the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs in the 18th Congress.
Recent data from the Department of Budget and Management has revealed that this year, P3 billion of the proposed PNP budget was allocated to fund the creation of some 10,000 Police Officer 1 positions. This will improve the uniformed personnel strength of the PNP to a 1:505 police-to-population ratio, which is near the ideal 1:500 ratio.