RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION, APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION AND

ATTRITION

The selection of competent personnel is crucial to the development of any organization. This is
especially true for the development of any organization. This is especially true for the development of an
effective and efficient law enforcement agency.
All organization needs qualified employees. Arguments for a competent police selection process have been
identified.
First, police officers act alone, usually without supervision. Because of this, Officers are given broad
discretionary powers and must utilized good judgement and have an innate sense of fairness and motivation.
Second, the police agency is not only selecting police officers, but also hiring future police
administrator. Lateral entry is the exception rather than the rule in law enforcement. It is from the new recruits,
therefore, that future SPOs Officers and Chief will be selected and bad recruits ultimately are transformed to
bad administrators.
Third, the news and fictional media have put law enforcement or police in a spotlight. People currently
expect more from their police. They expect efficiency, effectiveness, and compassion; many are willing to settle
for less.
Finally, the number of successful civil liability claims, against the police has made poor policing too costly to
accept.
The problem becomes even more complicated for the police administrator because of the inability tests
the applicants on police knowledge. Since the majority of the applicants have no background on training, they
must be hired on their perceived ability to learn proper information and techniques.
No one has ever able to identify specifically those characteristics that make some people better prospects
for law enforcement careers than other. Many of the criteria for selection seem to be based more on perceptions
of police work than upon its realities.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Recruitment should not be confused with the selection process. The philosophy of recruitment is to get
as many applicants in to process as possible. screening process, on the other hand, is concerned with eliminating
applicants that do not meet the organization’s selection criteria.
Both recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process. Recruitment is the
process of attracting candidates who have minimum qualifications to be eligible for selection procedure. It is the
process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.
The basic purpose of recruitment is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best
candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organization.
Selection, on the other hand, is the process of screening out or eliminating undesirable applicants who
do not meet the organization’s criteria. It involves the series of steps by which the candidates are screened for
choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts. The basic purpose of selection process is to choose the
right candidate to fill the various positions in the organization.
In the Philippine National Police, the recruitment and selection of applicants who will be appointed to
the police service4 is the responsibility of the Directorate for personnel and Records Management (DPRM).
DPRM is tasked in the management of PNP uniformed or non-uniformed personnel as individuals, manpower
procurement and control and in the records management of the organization.
The recruitment in the Philippine National Police depends upon the national of regional quota as determined by
the National Police Commission.
The Civil Service Commission provides that each department and agency shall develop its own screening
process in accordance with the standards and guidelines set.
In order to ensure the quality of personnel entering the police service and strengthen the foundation of the police
professionalization, a standard procedure for recruitment and selection of PNP uniformed personnel is hereby
established.

GENERAL QUALIFICATION FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE PNP (R.A. 6975, as

amended by R.A. 8551 and R.A. 9708)

No person shall be appointed as officer and member of the Philippine National Police unless he or she
possesses the following minimum qualification:
a.) A citizen of the Philippines;
b.) A person of good moral conduct;
c.) Must have passed the psychiatric/ psychological, drug and physical tests to be administered by the PNP
or by any NAPOLCOM accredited government hospital for the purpose of determining physical and
mental health;
d.) Must possess a formal baccalaureate degree from a recognized institution of learning;
e.) Must be eligible in accordance with the standard set by the Commission;
f.) Must not have been dishonorably discharged from military employment or dismissed for cause from any
civilian position in the Government;
g.) Must not have been convicted by final judgement of an offense or crime involving moral turpitude;
h.) Must be at least one meter and sixty-two centimeters (1.62 m) in height for male and one meter and
fifty-seven (1.57 m) for female;
i.) Must weigh not more or less than fifty (50kgs) from the standard weight corresponding to his or her
height, age and sex; and
j.) For a new applicant, must not be less than twenty-one (21) nor more than thirty (30) years of age

Pursuant to R.A. 9708, “PNP members who are already in the service upon the effectivity of Republic
Act No. 8551 shall be given five (5) years to obtain the minimum educational qualification preferably in
law enforcement related courses, to be reckoned from the date of the effectivity of this amendatory Act:
Provided, furthermore, That for concerned PNP members rendering more than fifteen (15) years of
service and who have exhibited exemplary performance as determined by the Commission, shall no
longer be required to comply with the aforementioned minimum education requirement”.
 EXAMINATION AND ELIGIBILITY

The National Police Commission is vested with the authority to administer the entrance and
promotional examinations for members of the PNP on the basis of the standards set by the Commission.
The written examination has been a standard part of the police selection process in the
government service since civil service was created. This screening device is still used effectively in the
law enforcement organization. To date there is a research that has established a correlation between
scores on a police entrance examination and successful job performance. The difficulty in designing a
written exam comes from the fact that most applicants have no police background.
Most police examinations are objective, multiple-choice tests. The objective tests are much more
common, although the essay format can provide a better understanding of the applicant ability to write
concise, coherent report necessary for effective law enforcement. The problems associated with the
subject nature of essay examinations however, make them especially susceptible to changes of
discrimination. The applicants taking the written examination would require costly more time and effort
on the part of the test grades to evaluate essays, when multiple-choice tests are graded quickly and
accurately.
For eligibility purposes following are the different police examination administered by the
National Police Commission:
1. Police Entrance Examination- an examination taken by the applicants to the PNP.
2. Police Promotion Examination- an examination taken by the in-service police officers as part of the
mandatory requirements for promotion. They are the following:
a. Police Officer Examination
b. Senior Police Officer Examination
c. Inspector Examination
d. Superintendent Examination
Members of the bar and licensed criminologist whose profession are germane to law enforcement and police
functions are no longer required to take promotional examinations up to the rank of superintended
(NAPOLCOM MC NO. 2008-016).
Others eligibilities:
PESE-Police Executive Service Eligibility
CESE-Career Executive Eligibility
CSEE-Career Executive Service Eligibility
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The appropriate eligibilities for Police Officer 1 are those acquired from the following (NAPOLCOM
MC No. 2008-003).
1. NAPOLCOM PNP Entrance Examination
2. R. A. 65O6 (Licensed Criminologist)
3. R. A. 1080 (Bar and Board Examination of baccalaureate degree)
4. P. D. 907 (Granting Civil Service Eligibility to College Honor Graduates)
5. Civil Service Professional Examination
APPOINTMENTS OF PNP MEMBERS
Appointment of the officers and members of the PNP are as follows:
1. Police office 1 to Senior Police Officer IV-shall be appointed by the office of the PNP for the
national headquarters personnel and arrested by the Civil Service Commission.
2. Inspector to Superintendent-is appointed by the chief of the PNP, as recommended by their
immediate superiors and attested by the civil commission.
3. Senior Superintendent to Deputy Director General-is appointed by the President upon
recommendation of the chief of PNP, with proper endorsement by the chairman of the Civil Service
Commission on Appointments.
4. Director General-Appointed by the President from among the senior officers down to rank of chief
superintendent in the service, subject to confirmation of the commission on appointments. Provided,
that the chief of PNP shall serve a tour of duty not to exceed four (4) years; Provided, further that in
times of war or other national emergency declared by congress, the president may extend such tour
of duty.

KINDS OF APPOINTMENT
1. Permanent Appointment- When an applicant possesses the upgraded general qualifications for
appointment in the PNP. It shall be issued to PO1 after completion of the required PNP Field
training Program for twelve (12) months involving actual experience and assignment in patrol,
traffic and investigation.

2. Temporary Appointment- When the appointment of an applicants is under the waiver program due
to educational and weight requirements pending satisfaction of the requirement waived. (Sec. 17, RA
8551)

A newly recruited PO1 shall be appointed in temporary status in twelve (12) months pending compliance with
the Field Training Program (FTP) involving actual experience and assignment in patrol, traffic and investigation
(NAPOLCOM Memorandum Circular No. 2007-009)
Field Training Program (FTP) or on-the-job training is the process by which an individual police officer who
is recruited into the service receives formal instruction on the job for special and defined purpose and performs
actual job functions with periodic appraisal on his performance and progress.
As provided for under R.A. 8551, police officers are required to undergo a Field Training Program for
twelve (12) months (inclusive of the PSBRC) involving actual experience and assignment in patrol, traffic and
investigation which is required for permanency in the police service.

APPOINTMENT UNDER A WAIVER PROGRAM

Section 15 of the R.A. 8551 provides for waivers for initial appointment to the PNP. It also mandated
the National Police Commission to promulgate rules and regulations to address other situations arising from the
waiver entry requirements.
The NAPOLCOM already issued NAPOLCOM Memorandum Circulars 99-005 and 2007-009 to address the
issues.
Pursuant to NAPOLCOM Memorandum Circular 2007-009, applicants who do not meet the required
age, height or weight can apply for waiver only when the number of qualified applicants falls below the office/
unit quota that is determined at the end of the recruitment process.
It has been observed in the previous recruitment that the recruitment quotas for the different offices /
units are not always filled-up due of lack of qualified applicants
Thus, in 2013, the NAPOLCOM issued again the new guidelines on the grant of waiver on the minimum
qualifications for the initial appointment to the uniformed component of the PNP.
Under the new circular, applicants who do not meet the required age, height or weight should be given
opportunity to apply for waiver prior to the official start of or during the recruitment program.
Pursuant to NAPOLCOM MC No. 2013-004, the following are the guidelines for the grant of waivers:

Conditions on waiver for initial appointment to the PNP

a. The age, height and weight for initial appointment to the PNP may be waived only when the number of
qualified applicants falls below the approved national/regional quota.
b. Waiver of the age requirement may be granted provided that the applicant shall not be less than twenty
(20) nor more than thirty five (35) years of age. For purposes of this paragraph, one is considered to be
not over thirty five (35) years old if he or she has not yet reached his or her thirty six (36th) birthday on
the date of the issuance of his or her appointment.
c. Waiver of the height requirement may be granted to a male applicant who is at least 1 meter and 57 cm
(1.57m) and to a female applicant who is at least 1 meter and 52cm (1.52m). Provided, that the
minimum height requirement for applicants who belong to indigenous group duly certified by the
National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) or the National Commission on Indigenous People
(NCIP) shall be 1.52m for male and 1.45m for female. Provided further, that the Commission shall
require said applicants to submit appropriate proof of their membership in a certain indigenous group.
d. An applicant who is granted a weight waiver shall be given reasonable time not exceeding six (6)
months within which to comply with the said requirement.
e. The grant of waiver is not guarantee for appointment into the police service.
f. The PNP Screening Committee shall, through the Chief of the PNP, request the Commission to consider
the appointment of those applicants with a certification under oath that the qualified applicants, at the
time the applicant is being considered, fall below the office/ unit quota concerned.
 Factors to be considered in the Grant of Waiver
a. Possession of special skills in evidence gathering and safekeeping, cyber crime investigation, detection
and prevention, crime scene investigation, martial arts, marksmanship similar special skills;
b. Special talents in the field of sports, music or arts and culture;
c. Extensive experience or training in forensic science and other legal, medical and technical service; and
d. Outstanding academic records and extracurricular activities of applicant during his/ her school days,
good family background in law enforcement or socio-civic activities, recognized social standing in the
community, awards and commendations received, which should indicate to the Commission En Banc
that the applicant can become a good member of the Philippine National Police.

Selection Criteria under the waiver program

1. Applicants who possess the least disqualifications shall take precedence over those who possess more
disqualifications.
2. The requirements shall be waived on the following order:
1. Age
2. Height
3. Weight