Senate approves bill that would rename PNP ranks

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill that would modify the rank classification of the Philippine National Police and standardize how law-enforcement officers were to called.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, principal author and sponsor of Senate Bill 2031, said the measure eliminate the confusion on how police officers would be addressed and, ultimately bring policemen closer to the populace.

The bill primarily seeks to amend Section 28 of Republic Act 6975 as amended, also known as the Department of Interior and Local Government Act of 1990.

“In order to maintain its clear distinction from the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the ranks to be used in addressing the PNP personnel shall be preceded by the word ‘Police’,” said Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001.

Under the bill, the PNP rank classification would become:

• Director-General to Police General
• Deputy Director-General to Police Lieutenant General
• Director to Police Major General
• Chief Superintendent to Police Brigadier General
• Senior Superintendent to Police Colonel
• Superintendent to Police Lieutenant Colonel
• Chief Inspector to Police Major
• Senior Inspector to Police Captain
• Inspector to Police Lieutenant
• SPO4 to Police Executive Master Sergeant
• SPO3 to Police Chief Master Sergeant
• SPO2 to Police Senior Master Sergeant
• SPO1 to Police Master Sergeant
• PO3 to Police Staff Sergeant
• PO2 to Police Corporal
• PO1 to Patrolman/Patrolwoman

Lacson said there was a need for a rank classification system for the PNP as this would improve coordination with other law enforcement agencies in anti-crime and anti-terrorism operations.

"As hyperbolic as it may sound, we cannot afford any delay in coordination in counter-terrorism operations and operations against other threats to national security. You and I would agree that a split second matters if the safety and lives of our people are at stake," he said.

The senator however emphasized that the rank classification specified in Senate Bill 2031 would not take away the civilian character of the PNP, much less militarize it.

Lacson said the PNP "shall continue to adopt a service-oriented outlook in consonance with its existing police-community relations doctrine consistent with its sworn duty ‘To Serve and Protect.’" — DVM, GMA News