“Promotions are always good for morale but this must be done in a way the prestige of the rank is maintained or even enhanced”
Congratulations to all those Philippine National Police General Officers who recently added more stars to their shoulders.
It is the dream of every officer entering the uniformed service to be promoted to star rank.
And today’s officers are lucky because there are a lot more opportunities for advancement unlike for instance our generation when there were only 24 General Officers in the entire AFP including the Philippine Constabulary where I originally got my commission.
The PNP, however, must be careful that the organization will not become top heavy with too many General Officers and promote only those who are competent, ethical and are credits to their service and country.
Otherwise, we will be litigating cases involving many General Officers.
The last promotion to three-star rank was the first in the PNP outside the traditional three making the number five.
I suspect this number will eventually increase to eight. This is because the Commanders of the three remaining Area Police Commands will also have to be promoted.
To those unfamiliar with this Police position, this is a command level between the regional police offices and the national headquarters in Camp Crame.
It used to be called Directorate for Integrated Police Operations but is now elevated to a Command position which makes the position more important and different.
Before the change of status, the position was considered by many as a freezer.
It should not be that way because the APC could in fact be valuable due to the growing volume and complexity of modern police work but, as of now, the current reputation of the position is not enviable.
The position, however, is completely staffed with two other General officers and other personnel of various ranks.
With such a situation, one is tempted to question the wisdom of creating what could be considered as redundant positions.
This needs a long answer but, in short, it is because the PNP as far as I know does not have a Table of Organization and Equipment where promotions should be based or, if there is, it is not being followed. This being the case, there is flexibility afforded the higher ups to promote more than they should which will eventually necessitate the creation of positions to accommodate promoted personnel.
This APC positions for instance are not in the PNP law but a creation of the National Police Commission thru a board resolution.
That is why some people consider these General Officers as excess Generals.
But it is not as simple as that because the NAPOLCOM may have had compelling reasons to create the positions.
Unfortunately the APC’s reasons for being were or are not being followed by succeeding PNP leaderships.
With regard to the notion of too many Generals, statistics do not seem to support this.
The present strength of the PNP is estimated at about 235,000 officers and men and will continue to grow as the population increases.
The recommended police to population ratio is one policemen for every 500 people. With the current estimated population of 112 million people for 2023, the current police strength more than meets the ideal police to population ratio.
The PNP is also currently authorized to have 153 General Officers but only has 121 which translates to something like one General Officer to 1,942 men which is not bad.
Since the PNP is a police organization with very different functions from the military, anything from 1,500 to 1,750 per one police General is quite acceptable.
There is therefore still room for promotional growth.
But the PNP should probably pause or take another look with the three-star promotions before going any further especially with the stated missions and functions of the APC.
The APC should be given more teeth to function as real commanders with real administrative and operational control over lower units under it.
Promotions are always good for morale but this must be done in a way the prestige of the rank is maintained or even enhanced.
More importantly however, the PNP and the country must benefit by their promotions and not the other way around.