The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced Sunday that it will hire 10,000 more new policemen by next year to strengthen the capability of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in maintaining peace and order.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who also chairs the National Police Commission (Napolcom), said “we will be hiring another 10,000 by 2010.”

Puno cited that this means more than 25,000 new policemen have been hired since he became secretary, citing that the PNP was able to increase the number of its uniformed personnel by more than 15,000 as of this year.

The secretary stressed that this was made possible with the budget increase enabling the DILG to hire more policemen and public safety officers, procure additional equipment to better maintain peace and order, and increase the salaries and pensions of its rank-and-file.

In Puno’s watch, the DILG budget went up by 44 percent from P43.681 billion in 2006 to P62.937 billion in 2009.

The PNP has been recruiting an average of 3,000 new policemen and policewomen each year since Puno was reappointed DILG secretary in 2006.