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PNP's deputy spokesperson narrates ascent in male-dominated profession

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ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Climbing up the ranks of a male-dominated profession is &quot;challenging&quot; but &quot;fun,&quot; Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy spokesperson Police Lt. Col. Kimberly Molitas said Friday.Molitas started her career in the police force in 1998 when she enrolled in the PNP Academy after earning a nursing degree.&quot;I wanted a job. I wanted something more adventurous than the normal things a woman does,&quot; Molitas told ANC&#x27;s Early Edition.After she graduated as one of 49 female graduates of the 220-strong Magilas Class of 2000, she trained under the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) to enhance her combat skills.&quot;SAF has a beautiful discipline. There is a special kind of discpline you develop in the Special Action Force which I appreciate,&quot; she said.&quot;You have to be strong, be physically fit as well. Train your body and mind to meet whatever the rigors of policing are,&quot; she said.Molitas was eventually assigned as commander of a market-side precinct in Pasay City where she headed about 70 police officers.&quot;The police chief just looked at me and said, &#x27;Where will I assign you? You are a woman. This is the first time there is a woman, so young to be under my command,&#x27;&quot; she said.Molitas said she brushed aside some indecent proposals and showed her colleagues that she was eager to learn and willing to prove her worth.&quot;Most of them had already had 10, 15 years as an officer and I was just a rookie,&quot; she said.&quot;I was just 23. I was the first woman commander... [but] I have a lot of respect for people working on the ground. My 2 years of experience in the academy cannot equate to their experience,&quot; she said.&quot;Rather than commanding them, I wanted to learn from all of them,&quot; she said.Her assignment in the anti-illegal drugs unit of the force opened her eyes to the realities of being a police officer in the Philippines.&quot;It was a liberating experience. I realized the many realities of police work on the ground. I saw the reality of corruption, scalawags, how the system works,&quot; she said.&quot;When you are in the academy, you mind is set on an ideal kind of organization and later when you go on the ground, you see and face the reality of it,&quot; she said.&quot;You watch these things in movies wherein police are involved in this and that, you don&#x27;t believe it. But then you realize, it&#x27;s really true, it is really happening,&quot; she said.&quot;There is really drug money circulating around the organization. We file cases and it goes away. All these things you see in movies actually happen,&quot; she said.Instead of being discouraged by the ills she saw, Molitas said she further persevered to rise above the ranks.&quot;When I started to see these things, I also started to see why it was happening,&quot; she said.&quot;From then on, I wanted to educate myself more and learn more things that would help me survive,&quot; she said.She also belied allegations that there was gender discrimination in the Philippine police force.&quot;We have parameters set by the organization which you have to follow and fulfill,&quot; she said.&quot;I have been to a few countries and they do not enjoy the same equality that our police enjoy here in the country,&quot; she said.&quot;We are the only ones who limit what we could and could not do for the organization,&quot; she said.

Climbing the ranks of a male-dominated profession is "challenging" but "fun", Philippine National Police deputy spokesperson Kimberly Molitas said Friday.

Climbing the ranks of a male-dominated profession is "challenging" but "fun", Philippine National Police deputy spokesperson Kimberly Molitas said Friday.