Press Release - Dela Rosa: Ratification: Bicameral Conference Committee Report PNP Reorganization

SENATOR RONALD "BATO" DELA ROSA

Mr. President, I have the honor of submitting for ratification the Bicameral Conference Committee Report on the Disagreeing Provisions of Senate Bill No. 2449 and House Bill No. 8327 that seeks to provide organizational reforms to the Philippine National Police.

Instead of reading the entire Joint Explanatory Statement of the Bicameral Conference Committee Report, may I be allowed to present the highlights of the reconciled bill and the Joint Explanation be inserted and considered read into the records:

First, Mr. President, the conferees agreed to use the Senate version as the working draft;

Second, as part of the mandate of the Philippine National Police Academy, we included a provision wherein, as far as practicable, the PNPA shall recruit cadets representing all provinces in the country;

Third, to maximize the technical expertise of PNP officers who joined the service through lateral entry, said technical officers shall be authorized to be assigned to positions related to their technical expertise outside of the office or unit where they were accepted;

Lastly, coinciding with the National Women's Month celebration, we expressly provided in the bill that the National Administrative Support Unit Women and Children Protection Group shall be headed by a female director with the rank of Police Brigadier General.

Mr. President, despite the fact that I am a bit vocally challenged today, I will not pass up the opportunity to speak, if only to thank this august body as well as our counterparts at the House of Representatives. Finally, it looks like the Philippine National Police can now say: time is on their side.

Today's ratification of the Bicameral Conference Committee Report on the PNP Organizational Reforms Act proves, if anything, that I am not alone. I am not alone in seeing the urgency of this measure, and acting on it. Together with the Senate conferees, Senators Bong Revilla, JV Ejercito, Tol Tolentino, Allan Cayetano, Bong Go, and Senate Minority Floor Leader Senator Koko Pimentel, we believe we have crafted a measure that more faithfully reflects the needs of the PNP. Not only that, it also equips our beloved agency with