Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7). | CDN Photo/ Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have until October 3 to remove their ‘unauthorized’ tattoos.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, the spokesperson of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that those with tattoos will have to shoulder the cost of having these removed.
Failure to comply with the mandate of the PNP is tantamount to “neglect of duty or irregularity in the performance of duty,” he said.
READ: PNP gives cops 3 months to remove visible tattoos
Last July 3, the PNP issued a memorandum for the removal of tattoos among police officers. The memorandum gives tattooed cops three months or until October 3 to comply.
Pelare said unauthorized tattoos are those that are considered as “extremist, racist, discriminative, and promotes violence.”
READ: PNP issues memo to regulate visible tattoo among personnel, applicants
However, aesthetic tattoos or those that are related to beauty, such as eyebrows, eyeliner or lips tattoos are exempt from the PNP policy.
PRO-7 inventory
Pelare said that in Central Visayas, PRO-7 is currently conducting an inventory to come up with a complete list of active personnel with tattoos.
READ: Lawmakers to PNP: Drop ‘unconstitutional’ policy vs tattooed police
Those who were already listed with unauthorized tattoos were already informed of the need to have these removed.
“But we’re very confident [that they will comply] knowing that PNP personnel are professionals and they are flexible. We know that they will comply. And this is for the good of the organization. Some may say that naay di kauyon ani nga policy but the PNP has its own internal rules and regulations. And they must follow,” Pelare said.
Pelare said that the policy was crafted to ensure that police officers look professional.
He clarified that it was never the intention of the organization to imply that having a tattoo is “bad.”
“We want to make sure that our police officers are professional looking and respectful. We want to emphasize, we are not saying that having tattoos is bad. It’s not the concept that we are trying to disseminate here,” he added.