The House Committee on Public Order and Safety has approved a bill seeking to increase to 20% the number of female recruits, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) is set to create 10,000 extra positions for Police Officer 1 (PO1).
House Bill (HB) 8689, authored by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, seeks to amend the 21-year-old PNP Reform Law that reserves for women only 10% of all new slots for recruits. The committee chaired by Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, a retired police chief superintendent, endorsed the bill for immediate plenary passage.
“Besides giving women greater opportunity to join the PNP, our intention here is to push up the absolute number of female officers in the force over time,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel said that at present, the PNP has only 22,800 female officers, accounting for less than 12% of the entire force of 194,410.
Camp Crame is set to spend P3bn this year to create the 10,000 extra positions for PO1.
“We want the PNP to achieve the ideal situation wherein female officers shall have exclusive supervision over women and children brought to police stations for custodial investigation,” Pimentel said.
 Custodial investigation refers to any questioning initiated by the police after a person has been taken into custody. “In other countries with superior safeguards against potential abuse, male officers for instance cannot just take custody of a young girl. They are encouraged if not required to look for a female officer to escort the minor,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel and nine other lawmakers filed HB 8689 in November, after a male officer in Manila was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl whose parents were apprehended for alleged drug offences. The girl was also brought to the Sampaloc police station even if there was no case against her.
At the station, then PO1 Eduardo Valencia offered to have sex with her, so that the case against her parents would be dropped. The girl was then brought to a motel in Sta. Mesa where she was raped.
Valencia has since been slapped with a statutory rape charge and dismissed from service.
The co-authors of HB 8689 are Representatives Alexandria Gonzales (Mandaluyong City), Chiqui Roa-Puno (Antipolo City), Marlyn Alonte (Biliran), Ann Hofer (Zamboanga Sibugay), Victoria Isabel Noel (AN Waray), Bernadette Herrera (BH), Vini Nola Ortega (Abono) and Francisco Josef Matugas 2nd (Surigao del Norte).