Female cops now make up 10 percent of 120,000-strong PNP force

Victims of domestic violence, exploitation and abuse must not hesitate to run to the Women and Children Protection Desks (WCPD) that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has put up in all municipal police stations throughout the country, Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno told The Manila Times.

Even before the passage of and enactment by President Gloria Arroyo of the Magna Carta of Women, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the national police have been zealously doing what it could to protect women and children.

Secretary Puno, chairs the Napolcom concurrently with being head of the DILG.

The PNP is administratively under him.

He ordered the PNP to set up a Women and Children Protection Center in every regional seat, province, town and city in the country.

He is also now going to make sure the MCW laws call for each of the 46,000 barangays to have a Womens Desk is fulfilled.

Secretary Puno sees the proper maintenance of the PNP womens centers, the WCPDs and the barangay womens desks, with women officers, will make abused women and children feel more comfortable and confident when they seek police assistance.

Each of these centers has a home atmosphere.

There is already a Women and Children Protection Desk in every police station in every town in our country, Puno said. So in every municipality, our women and youth now have a place to turn to for help.

These centers and WCPDs handle cases of violence and abuse committed against women and children, including trafficking and exploitation as defined under Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004 and now the Magna Carta of Women.

The establishment of these centers, Secretary Puno said, shows that the DILG and PNP have always given family concerns and the human rights of women and children a top concern.

Women officers, led by Chief Supt. Yolanda Tanigue, who head the PNPs WCPC and is the first female police officer of the PNP to be promoted to star rank, have been tapped to run the WCPDs.

In the first half of 2008, the PNP hired 3,499 recruits from the various police regional offices, the Special Action Force (SAF) and the PNPs Headquarters Support Services (HSS). Making up 13.2 percent of these recruits, were 462 women.

In December 2008, in the second phase of the recruitment program, 4,775 recruits were taken of whom 13.59 (635) are women.

In addition, in 2008, 128 graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) in 2008 were appointed as Police Inspectors, 21 of whom are women.

NGOs, Secretary Puno said, are partners of the WCPDs in expanding their reach. –Manila Times