Over 200 new PNPA graduates to join police force

Over 200 new graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy will join the 100,000-strong Philippine National Police force.

PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. on Thursday said 225 of the total 246 cadets of the PNPA Lakandula Class of 2015, have opted to join the PNP.


^{Cadets of the PNPA "Lakandula" Class of 2015 march to the PNPA campus grandstand at Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda in Silang, Cavite, as part of preparations for their graduation rites on Thursday, March 26, 2015.  Photo by Elizabeth Marcelo}

Meanwhile, 11 of the new PNPA graduates will be join the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and 10 will be assigned to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

PNPA director Chief Supt. Armando Ramolete said that after four years of rigorous training, the PNPA graduates will automatically be conferred with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Safety.

The Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) is the institution that has the direct supervision over the PNPA.

Graduation rites for the Lakandula Class will be held at the PNPA campus at Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda in Silang, Cavite at 10 a.m. Thursday.

President Benigno Aquino III is expected to deliver a speech at the graduation ceremony.

Meanwhile, Cerbo said that of the 225 PNPA cadets joining the police force, 20 have already expressed intention to undergo specialized training and courses to be part of the PNP's elite combat unit – the Special Action Force (SAF).

On January 25, 44 SAF troopers were among some 60 people killed in a clash in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.

Of the 44 slain SAF troopers, seven were graduates of the PNPA, including the commander of the SAF's 55th Special Action Company (SAC) Senior Inspector Ryan Pabaliñas.

The 55th SAC was the SAF company that sustained the heaviest casualties from the Mamasapano incident.

Thirty-five members of 55th SAC perished from the Mamasapano encounter after they were  pinned down by the combined elements of the MILF, its splinter group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups in a cornfield. — LBG, GMA News