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President Gloria Arroyo warned the newest batch of
police, fire and jail personnel to stay out of political matters,
and promised them perks and benefits in cash and in kind.
“Whenever I see members of the
uniformed service, I remember the poem The Charge of the Light
Brigade: ‘Theirs is not to reason why theirs is but to do and
die.’ That is what you get in exchange for your guns. It is not
the job of those holding guns to philosophize. Leave that to the
totally civilian leaders,” President Arroyo said on Thursday in
her speech at the graduation of Batch 2008 of the Philippine
National Police Academy in Cavite province, south of Manila.
The President noted that at the
graduation earlier this month of Batch 2008 of the Philippine
Military Academy, where she was guest speaker, she reminded the
graduates of observing discipline.
“In return for your guns, there
are certain civil rights you have to give up and that is the right
to speak politically. Now that is discipline,” she told the police
graduates, also telling them that their job is to maintain peace,
order and stability.
The President announced a
10-percent increase in the basic salary of civilian, military, and
uniformed personnel effective July as well as a housing project for
policemen.
In discouraging the police
graduates from entertaining politics while still on active duty,
Mrs. Arroyo cited the need to escape what she called “clouds on
the economic horizon we must guard against.”
She also informed the graduates
that the government is working on the modernization of the
Philippine National Police, especially after it set 2010 as the
deadline to win the war against insurgency.
The government invested in patrol
cars, helicopters, patrol craft for maritime police, night-vision
equipment and intelligence funds for anti-terrorism police, and
increased forensics and investigative crime laboratory aids, Mrs.
Arroyo said.
The police graduates will be
assigned to the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology, and Bureau of Fire Protection.
Of their batch of 154, 127 are
joining the national police, and 27 the fire bureau and jail bureau.
“Your responsibility to lead
comes with the rank that you hold. But rank alone as a sole basis of
leadership is weak. Effective leadership must be founded on
professional competence, and your ability to inspire others and lead
by example,” national police chief Avelino Razon Jr. told them.
-- Angelo S. Samonte And Maricel V. Cruz
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