PNP chief Carlos urges cops to monitor own BMI

Philippine National Police chief Police Lieutenant General Dionardo Carlos called on PNP personnel to monitor their own body mass index (BMI) to keep themselves fit and healthy.

“We will continue the BMI by Sir Archie Gamboa. However, it will be your personal or my personal and individual responsibility to keep myself or ourselves fit because that is needed, that is required by our job,” Carlos said Monday.

According to the PNP Memorandum Circular 2020-029, the BMI is defined as “a key index of a person’s weight adjusted for height measured by weight in kilograms over height in meters squared.”

The minimum BMI required for cops is 18.5 while the maximum is 27.0, depending on their age. Those with 18.4 and below are classified as underweight, those with 25.0 to 29.9 are classified as overweight, and those with 30.0 to 34.9 are classified as obese.

Carlos further urged the police officers to take advantage of the physical and mental health programs of PNP such as the annual physical examination, physical fitness test, and stress debriefing so they could keep themselves healthy and perform well especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hindi biro ang trabaho natin sa baba [Our job is not a joke]. Keep ourselves fit—that is our responsibility. Monitor your own BMI. Sa tingin mo kailangan mo ng tulong ng programa ng PNP, ng ating organisasyon? Nandiyan po ‘yan [If you think that you need help through the programs of PNP, we have that,]” he added.

In July, then-PNP chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar approved the temporary suspension of the BMI requirement for the promotion of PNP personnel as consideration due to the pandemic.

“Nasa panahon tayo ng pandemya kung saan nangangailangan ng malasakit at pang-unawa sa aming mga tauhan, lalo na ang libu-libo naming personnel na naatasang magpatupad ng minimum public health safety protocol 24 oras,” Eleazar said, noting that BMI requirement will be reimplemented once the situation goes back to normal.

[We’re in the middle of the pandemic where we need care and understanding for our personnel, especially since thousands of our personnel are tasked to enforce the minimum public health safety protocols for 24 hours.] — RSJ, GMA News