PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Dionardo B. Carlos said that under him, the PNP Body Mass Index or BMI program will become a ‘personal or individual responsibility’ of each and every member of the force.

“I believe that all members of the police force should be physically and mentally fit. However, this time, a cop’s BMI won’t be a hindrance to his/her schooling which is a requirement for promotion although I and my commanders will make them answerable if we see them really in bad shape,” he said.

During the time of former PNP chief, now retired Gen. Archie Francisco F. Gamboa, the BMI requirement was made part of the physical fitness program of the PNP in an effort to professionalize the organization. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. It is obtained by dividing a person’s weight expressed in kilograms by his or her height in meters.

For most adults, an ideal BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9. A range of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight while those having 30 and above are considered obese.

This time, Gen. Carlos said they will give a much-needed boost to the PNP’s physical fitness program as they continue their transformation program while ensuring that the streets will be safe.

“While we continue to reform as we perform, we will give a much needed boost to the PNP’s physical fitness program, the PNP Body Mass Index Program will be your personal or individual responsibility to stay fit because our job needs us to be fit. It will not however bar you from your promotion and undergoing a schooling,” he said.

The 27th PNP chief and the 7th to be designated by President Duterte maintained that uniformed members of the police force must be in top physical shape as they continue to do their share in addressing the pandemic.

PNP personnel act as ‘frontliners’ in fully implementing decisions by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to help prevent the further spread of the deadly virus such as the mandatory wearing of face masks and face shields in public and observance of physical distancing.

Colleagues and peers of Gen. Carlos have described him as a true embodiment of a ‘powerhouse general’ who fits the job to a T before he was chosen by President Duterte to succeed Gen. Eleazar.

Carlos is exemplary in all QUAD Policing aspects of the PNP – Field Operations, Investigation, Intelligence and Community Relations.

Retiring on May 8, 2022, Lt. Gen. Carlos is one of the very few police generals who is skilled in many aspects. He is an expert in skydiving, motorcycle riding, a rescue diver, a tactical firearms instructor and a specialist in protective service or VIP security operations.

Born in Lucena City, the official is the son of Osmundo Carlos of Tayabas, Quezon ,a known marine biologist who headed the Enverga University Marine Biology Center in Padre Burgos municipality and Erlinda Bernardo, a native of Guian, Samar who worked at the Quezon Provincial Hospital.

Carlos spent his early childhood years in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and eventually moved back to Cavite City and Lucena City. He topped his elementary class at the St. Joseph College in Cavite City in 1979 and took his secondary education at Luzonian University Foundation (now the Manuel S. Enverga University) in Lucena City where he graduated salutatorian in 1983.

The official spent a year at UP Diliman before entering the Philippine Military Academy in 1984 and became a proud member of PMA ‘Maringal’ Class of 1988.

He started his military career as a young Constabulary Lieutenant in his hometown when he was deployed in Camp Guillermo Nakar in Lucena City as an officer of the Regional Special Action Force 4 and later joined the famed 224th PC/INP Company in Los Baños, Laguna.

Carlos carved a name in fighting the New People’s Army in Quezon, Laguna and Mindoro island where he took part in the dismantling of three NPA camps in the island under the now defunct Task Force Mina de Oro and later on Task Force Crossbow.

In 1989, Carlos led his team in liberating the Sangley Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite from coup participants and later helped overrun rebel soldiers who occupied the Makati financial district.

He earned the Military Bravery Medal for the feat.

In 1994, he joined the elite PNP Special Action Force where he commanded the SAF’s Anti-Terrorist Unit which was created to fight organized crime groups, the NPA and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

Carlos served at the PNP-SAF from 1994 to 2000 and used fighting techniques he learned from commandos from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, France and Israeli in developing Special Weapons and Tactics or SWAT training in key cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao including the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

The new PNP chief also joined the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in 2000 when the Agency was still in its transition period.

Carlos served as the Agency’s Deputy Intelligence Chief working closely with their foreign counterparts from the United States DEA, Australian Federal Police, Hongkong Narcotics Bureau and Royal Malaysian Police among others.

He later returned to the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) where his cooperation with the foreign counterparts resulted in the dismantling of nine clandestine shabu laboratories and storage facilities in the country. He worked with the PDEA until 2006.

He later became the Dumaguete City police chief in Negros Oriental and led the local police in getting the plum Best City Police Station in Central Visayas in 2007 with his implementation of his Safer Cities Program which drastically reduced street crimes prevailing in the city.

His effort was recognized by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she declared Dumaguete as the safest city in the entire country.

Carlos in 2009 was recognized as one of the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service by the Metrobank Foundation Incorporated. He was also awarded with a scholarship at the Asian Institute of Management where he took his Master in Management from 2009 to 2010.

He later was assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office from 2010 to 2012 and won an award as the Best Senior Police Commissioned Officer for Administration in 2012 for his professional and excellent police-community relations work in Metro Manila.

Carlos also became a Quezon Police Provincial Office director in 2012; a chief of the PNP Liaison Office for Legislative Affairs in Congress in 2014 and Negros Oriental police director in 2015.

He became the PNP spokesperson and chief of the PNP Public Information Office in 2016 and was named director of the PNP Aviation Security Group in January 2018. In August 2018, Carlos was appointed as Police Regional Office 8 director in Eastern Visayas where he led his men in a massive campaign against criminality, corruption and insurgency.

He also became a director of the PNP Highway Patrol Group, the PNP Directorate for Information and Communications Technology Management and the PNP Directorate for Integrated Police Operations – Southern Luzon until he was designated by Gen. Eleazar as the PNP-TCDS last May.