MANILA: The Philippine National Police has kicked off a new fitness initiative for officers, vowing to get overweight personnel back in shape or out of the service.
Launched this week, the campaign is called Pulisteniks, from “pulis,” which means police in Tagalog, and “calisthenics.”
The program mandates PNP units nationwide to dedicate Tuesdays and Thursdays to fitness, including various physical activities such as running, walking, jogging, biking, Zumba, and combat sports like arnis – the national martial art and sport of the Philippines – aikido, boxing, karate-do, judo, muay thai, swimming, table tennis, and taekwondo.
“The directive of our chief PNP is clear. We need our police officers to be physically fit. This program has been in place for a long time, but now we’re putting more focus on it because we’re also aiming to meet our target response time,” Maj. Philipp Ines, Manila Police District spokesperson, told Arab News.
“What is happening now is just a reiteration of our ongoing programs. The good thing is we’re now being given time to focus on physical conditioning every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. This is a good program to help our officers reduce weight and be able to keep up with the demands of public service.”
Under the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990 all PNP officers are required to keep their body weight within 5 kg – either above or below – a standard weight based on their height and sex.
“We undergo quarterly check-ups, where they check if our BMI – body mass index – is within the acceptable range. If it’s not, the health or medical officer tells our personnel to lose weight. That’s why now there’s a program in place to help with that because before it was hard for many officers due to the lack of time,” Ines said.
“The Manila Police District Health Service is monitoring our progress so we can track whether we’re able to comply. And every year, there’s a required physical fitness test that we all have to pass. If you fail those tests twice in a row, it could be grounds for separation from service.”
Philippine Police Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said that officers are given a target of six months to a year to lose weight.
“After a year, if they don’t meet the standards, they can be removed from the service,” he said in a radio interview.
The fitness program has already gained support from Filipino netizens whose comments on Facebook ranged from “I hope they lose weight to look better” to “It’s embarrassing to see all fat police officers these days,” and “your uniform doesn’t fit you.”
Remedios Borejon, retired National Police Commission public affairs officer, told Arab News the program should help improve how the police are seen.
“I’m in favor of the program. This is also to help make our police officers look prim and proper, like gentlemen. Because it really doesn’t look good if a police officer looks sloppy or overweight,” she said.
“In the past, you rarely saw overweight police officers. I support this. It helps improve their image and boosts professionalism.”
