The Philippine President, Pres. Benigno Aquino III vetoed a bill removing height requirements for Police on Monday, April 1, 2013. The moved by the highest Filipino official ended the hope of short people who hopes to join the law enforcement agency of the Philippines.
Short Filipino people were disappointed with the President’s action. The Philippine Parliament had p(–foul word(s) removed–)ed a bill repealing minimum height requirements for the police, fire service and jail guards.
The President on his part felt that the jobs required people of a certain stature, the spokeswoman of the President, Abigael Valte stated. The spokeswoman was also quoted as saying that, “If you need to rescue someone from a burning house… or secure detainees, then you would need certain physical attributes. That is the nature of these jobs and it is not discrimination,” Valti told reporters.
The minimum height requirements for police, fire serviceman and jail guards is five feet, four inches (1.63 metres) for men and five feet, two inches (1.57 meters) for women.
Although the government have a prescribed height requirements, the police and other agencies granted some special height requirement waivers for certain applicants who are short but have special qualifications.
