PLTGEN RICARDO F DE LEON, (Ret.) Ph.D.

One of the salient legacies of H.E. President Rodrigo R. Duterte in “Matatag, Maginhawa at Panatag na Buhay” hailed in the ‘Ambisyon Natin 2040’ for public safety sector is the creation of the Philippine Public Safety Academy, also known as the PPSA. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), through the leadership of Secretary Eduardo M. Año has pushed for the establishment of the academy as provided in the DILG Department Order Circular No. 2022-009 – Creation and Operationalization of the PPSA pursuant to Republic Act No. 11279 (2019), as its legal bases.

The PPSA was established after Republic Act No. 11279 transferred the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and the National Police Training Institute (NPTI) to the Philippine National Police (PNP). The PPSC assumed responsibility for establishing academy for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s (BJMP) cadetship programs. The academy will focus on developing future leaders and professionals for the Fire and Jail Services, with the goal of graduating Fire and Jail Inspectors by 2024.

The Academy offers two (2) programs, namely the Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection Administration (BSFPA) and the Bachelor of Science in Penology and Corrections Administration (BSPCA). The academy is mandated to inculcate to the cadets the value of courage, integrity and professional service. The graduates are expected to be molded with the following attributes: Service Driven Officers, Ethical Leaders, Effective Administrators, and Change Managers.

The cadets were from the interior sectors, the BFP and the BJMP with ranks of Jail Officer 1 -Jail Officer 2, and Fire Officer 1 -Fire Officer 2, possessing all the qualifications, after undergone rigorous processes of selection. Initially, just 100 cadets were allowed to join, and they will hurdle the two (2) years academic and non-academic courses composing of 150 units in a trimester setup.

The curricula for these courses have been enhanced recently by the invited Subject Matter Experts through series of activities tagged as ‘Focus Group Discussions: Consultation and Meeting.’ Also, much have been done through benchmarking for best practices with other local academies.  

The cadets would temporarily use the facility of the NFSTI, for its dormitories and classrooms while waiting for the permanent location of the academy.

Today, with 50 cadets from BJMP, and 50 cadets from BFP, the PPSA is conducting the Inaugural Ceremony and Launching of the Pioneer Batch Class of 2024 at the NJMPTI Multi-Purpose Hall, Camp Vicente Lim, Canlubang, Calamba City, Laguna.

The PPSA is grateful with the combined leadership and assistance of USEC NESTOR S. QUINSAY, DILG; PLTGEN RICARDO F DE LEON (Ret.) Ph.D., President of the PPSC; Fire Director LOUIE S PURACAN of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP); Jail Director ALLAN S IRAL, CESE of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). The preparation, to let this program set into place, is with cooperation of PPSC’s constitutive units, the National Forensic Science Training Institute (NFSTI), the National Jail Management and Penology Training Institute (NJMPTI), the National Fire Training Institute (NFTI), and the National Police College (NPC).