Philippine National Police Academy


The Philippine National Police Academy or PNPA, is the Philippine public safety school of the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Bureau of Fire Protection. PNPA was established on August 26, 1977 by the virtue of Section 19, PD 1184 and was tasked to provide tertiary level education to the three services of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

History

In the early 1960s, policemen were hired purely on the basis of personal relations with influential personalities and government officials. City and municipal policemen were after being hired, sworn in, and issued weapons. Despite their lack of knowledge on the police system, they were given the responsibility of safeguarding and protecting the community.
The police organization then had no code of conduct. The police service then required neither entry standards nor appropriate training, and had no consistent promotional policies. However, substantial improvements were achieved with the passage of Republic Act 4864 on September 6, 1966, known as the “Police Act of 1966”. That law provided for the establishment of the Police Commission and was renamed National Police Commission under the Office of the President of the Philippines.
Among the powers, duties and responsibilities of the National Police Commission were to advise the President on all matters involving local police administration, examine and audit the performance, activities and facilities of all local police agencies throughout the country, promulgate a police manual prescribing rules and regulations for the efficient organization, administration, and operation of the local police, including their recruitment, selection and promotion, organize and develop police training programs and operate police training centers, and establish a system of Uniform Crime Reporting.
Upon approval of this Police Act, appointment to a local police agency was made by the mayor from the list of eligibles certified by the Civil Service Commission, provided that all appointments were on probationary basis for a period of six months. After that an evaluation and recommendation report for retention or termination by the Chief of Police was required prior to the expiration of the probationary period.
The set up was not without its concomitant pitfalls. Training was limited to police service personnel only. Moreover, the system itself lent to locally based, individualized and separate local police units that led to the marked preponderance of political influence and interference over the police forces. Mainly for these reasons, the government opted to integrate all city and municipal police, fire and jail services into a unified national organization.
A series of police integration laws culminated on August 8, 1975 in the promulgation of Presidential Decree 765 constituting the Integrated National Police or INP, providing for the unification of the then separate city and municipal police, fire and jail services in existence within the territory of the Republic. These integrated forces were placed under the operational control of the Philippine Constabulary, by itself an Armed Forces of the Philippines Major Service Command, under the responsibility of the Department of National Defense via the office of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces through the Chief of Constabulary and this served a nucleus to the new organization.
The new INP was thus made responsible for public safety, protection of lives and properties, enforcement of laws and maintenance of peace and order within the territorial limits of the Philippines. It had the power to prevent crimes, effect and arrest of criminal offenders and provide for their detention and rehabilitation. It took necessary measures to prevent and control fires, investigate the commission of all crimes and offenses and bring the offenders to justice, all the while to take every necessary step to insure public safety.
The power of the administrative supervision and control by the city and municipal governments over their respective local police, jail and fire departments was transferred to the Chief of Constabulary as Director-General of the Integrated National Police in August 1975.
The powers and functions of the National Police Commission in the training of policemen was the establishment of the integrated police communication system, the grant of police salary subsidy, and the adjudication and grant of compensation for temporary disability benefits, were transferred to the Integrated National Police, including all appropriate personnel and staff, records and equipment and other resources appertaining thereto, except for the powers and functions vested in and exercised by the NPC. Its powers and functions were the attestation of appointments, examination, investigation, adjudication and review of police administrative disciplinary cases, adjudication and grant of compensation for permanent disability and death benefits, staff inspection and audit, which were extended to the police, fire, and jail components of the INP.

Creation of the academy

Thus, the police, fire and jail services were unified into a single, paramilitary law enforcement organization and the responsibility of training INP personnel was transferred from the National Police Commission on July 1, 1976 to the Integrated National Police Training Command including the 13 regional training centers throughout the country as mandated by Presidential Decree 765, signed by then-President Ferdinand Marcos. It was the first step towards the creation of an official officer academy for the aforementioned services.
On August 26, 1977, PD 1184, otherwise known as the “INP Personnel Professionalization Law of 1977”, proposed for the creation of the Philippine National Police Academy. Immediately after the promulgation of PD 1184, the then chief of Constabulary and concurrently Director General of the Integrated National Police, Major General Fidel V. Ramos created a study committee to prepare the corresponding feasibility study and all other prerequisites for the activation of the envisioned PNPA based on PD 1184.
Section 19 of said decree provided that “there shall be established in the Integrated National Police a premiere police service training institution to be known as the Philippine National Police Academy for the education and training of the members of the INP.”
In February 1978, General Ramos recommended to Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, then Minister of National Defense, for the activation of the Philippine National Police Academy. As a result of the recommendation, Ministry of National Defense Order No. 83 was issued on May 25, 1978 activating the Philippine National Police Academy effective June 12, 1978 in line with the national objective to upgrade the law enforcement service in the country.

Opening up to the present

Pursuant to said Ministry Order, General Orders No. 23-P of Headquarters Philippine Constabulary / Integrated National Police dated 23 June 1978 formally announced the activation of the Philippine National Police Academy. The speed that characterized the creation and establishment of the new PNPA was a clear indication of the important role of the institution in the professional development of police officers in the country. In fact, its actual operations began even before its formal inauguration. It conducted entrance examinations for cadetship on May 28 and June 4, 1978 to select the best applicants for its first batch of cadets.
When the formal inauguration took place on June 30, 1978, the cadets had to share quarters with the INP Training Command at Fort Bonifacio in Makati for more than two months before it moved to Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna as its training venue on August 19, 1978. The apparent infancy of the Academy presented such as lack of formal organization, staffing and a training site. This was, however, resolved by having the Integrated National Police Training Command Headquarters at Fort Bonifacio serve as surrogate organization of the Academy.
Simultaneously with the formal establishment of the Academy, the first batch of police cadets was chosen after a rigorous and painstaking selection process – including thorough medical and psychiatric examinations that took place on June 30, 1978. Formal academic instructions started on July 17, 1978 with 50 cadets, in formal ceremonies at Fort Bonifacio in the present Philippine Public Safety College grounds. Two years later, 45 of them finally graduated to compose the first Bachelor of Science in Public Safety graduates – the Maharlika Class of 1980, commissioned Police Lieutenants.
During its initial years of existence, the Academy limited the admission of its student-cadets to the two-year Bachelor of Science in Public Safety for qualified members of the Integrated National Police only. This meant that applicants outside the Integrated National Police services were not accepted in the cadetship program.
When the Philippine National Police Academy was about to complete its third year of existence, the Academy modified its admission requirements to include civilian applicants.
On January 15, 1981, less than three years after its establishment, the Academy was granted its Academic Charter through the promulgation of Presidential Decree 1780, otherwise known as “The Philippine National Police Academy Charter of 1981.” This decree elevated the Academy to the status as the premier educational and training institution of the country's national police force.
Thus, the Philippine National Police Academy was specifically tasked “to develop and conduct comprehensive education and training programs with the view of Professionalizing the personnel in every level of command of the Integrated National Police.”
The 1978 Bachelor of Science in Public Safety curriculum underwent curriculum and training revisions and modifications which brought about the transition from two years to a three-year curriculum, giving emphasis on the separate specialized areas for cadets who would opt for either the police, fire and jail services. In 1991, by virtue of the enactment of Republic Act 6975, otherwise known as the “Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990”, the INP became part of a new Philippine National Police, while its fire and jail branches were split, becoming both the Bureau of Fire Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, respectively, all three falling under the Department of Interior and Local Government. The PNPA remained the official joint officer training institution for the public security services of the republic. Finally, on April 13, 1994, the PNPA found its new and permanent home when it moved to Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda at Silang, Cavite.
By virtue of the provisions of RA6975, The PNPA became a primary component of the Philippine Public Safety College, the institution which was mandated as the premier institution for the training, human resource development and continuing education of all police, fire and jail personnel.
It was in January 1997, under the leadership of Police Chief Superintendent Rufino G. Ibay, Jr. that the proposal to revise the Bachelor of Science in Public Safety course into a four-year program was favorably endorsed by then Philippine Public Safety College President Guillermo P. Enriquez, Jr. that led to its eventual approval by the Philippine Public Safety College Board of Trustees which is composed of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary as Chairman, the head of the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology as members, and the Philippine Public Safety College President as ex-officio member.
Since the Academy moved to Camp General Mariano N Castañeda, Silang, Cavite in 1994 as its new and permanent home, its facilities have been continuously upgraded to make the Academy conducive for learning.

Curriculum

Police, Jail and Fire Officer candidates attend a 4-year tertiary education course, allowing them to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Safety. Graduating cadets are then commissioned as Inspectors or as a Police Lieutenant, equivalent to a Military First Lieutenant or Lieutenant Junior Grade, in the tri-services of the DILG.

Phases of cadetship

The Sheep, also known as the plebes or the Fourth Class Cadets, are the newest members of the Cadet Corps who are received during the Reception Rites of the academy. After received by the Upperclassmen Corps, these plebes will undergo the forty-five days Breaking Period, a rigorous training of orienting the newest member of the corps of all traditions and culture practiced inside the academy.
The Shearer or the Third Class men are the cadets who already received the Recognition Rites having direct supervision to the plebes after their Breaking Period. PNPA academics starts mostly in the month of June after the Incorporation Rites of the plebes. The span of almost 7–9 months from Incorporation to Recognition Rites of their plebes is the most crucial time of playing the most crucial role as a Third Class men being the direct responsible of leading them.
The Steward or the Second Class men is a preparatory phase of being a "Shepherd". Most of the time of Second Class Cadets are concentrated in their academics but at the same time should have control to the Shearers.
The Shepherd or the First Class men are the most seniors in the cadet corps. The Ruling Class is the existing most senior class of the year having members who are candidates for graduation. First Classmen are the overseers of the Cadet Corps composed of Cadet Officers, Cadet-In-Charge of Clubs and Organization, and Squad Leaders. They had been chosen by the Outgoing Cadet Officers from the pool of Steward aspirants couple of months before graduation.
Upon graduation, the graduates, aside from their degrees, also receive their inspector's commissions within their chosen civil security service. Before their graduation, the First Class cadets in leadership positions hand over these duties to the Second Class cadets, who will take over these in the incoming academic year.

Rites

The four significant rites a Cadet/Cadette should undergo are as follows:
Reception Rites
A time-honored tradition for welcoming the chosen few who heeded the call. It is an initiation of the ultimate kind, an ordeal that put into severe test the ambitious' worth and determination. Needless to say, it is a foretaste of the regimental life that lies ahead.
Incorporation Rites
After the 45-day orientation into the cadetship training termed as “breaking period,” the rites formally incorporates the new cadets into the activities of the Cadet Corps. The new cadets will now live with their upperclassmen as brothers and sisters in their respective assigned companies.
Recognition Rites
That simple yet long-awaited, hard-earned and earnestly yearned handshake. To a mammal dwelling in the dim world of plebehood, no experience is far more excellent and glorious than that of clasping with the hands of the immaculate. Recognition is a status. It signifies refinement.
Graduation Rites
There is no greater victory than to achieve the heights of the Graduation Day. Marking the end of trials and the renaissance of a new life outside the Academy walls... a real image of grandeur realizing cadet's ideals and standing as a role model that sets him apart from the rest, he, being born for greater things honed by honor, discipline and excellence.