LOCAL Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla plans to 'flatten' the leadership structure of the Philippine National Police (PNP) by reducing the number of police generals from the present 133 to 25.Remulla said the structure was top-heavy, 'so we have many redundancies we need to trim down.'Drastically trimming the PNP's top echelon is part of a four-month process to overhaul the police force that Remulla proposed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.Remulla did not fully explain how he arrived at 25 as the ideal number of police generals but said the proposal was open to discussion.Not surprisingly, the PNP is not ecstatic about the downsizing plan.PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said that while the organization totally agreed with Remulla that it needed to be reformed, whittling down the corps of generals to almost a fifth of what it is now required further study and consultation.Fajardo sidestepped the issue of the ideal number of generals, saying: 'I don't want to preempt and give a categorical answer if 25 is feasible.'Remulla and the PNP, however, seem to be in agreement that if any operational arm has to be sacrificed in the name of downsizing, it has to be the Area Police Command (APC).An APC, the police equivalent of a military command, clusters several police groups in a particular region for more effective command and control.Each of the five APCs is headed by a three-star general, whose deputies must at least be of one-star rank.While the concept worked for the military, APCs have not functioned as expected.In the proposed amendments to Republic Act 6975, the law that transferred supervision of the PNP to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), all APCs will be deactivated as part of reforms in the police force.That could thin out the ranks of PNP generals, but it still does not approach Remulla's magic number of 25.Perhaps the DILG chief could be convinced to recalibrate his approach, and put a premium on quality over quantity in choosing the officers who will be at the PNP's helm.The organization's leadership has gone through purges as it tries to cleanse its ranks and salvage its public image. High-ranking police officials have been dismissed or put in the freezer for their involvement in trafficking illegal drugs, or in 'recycling' confiscated banned substances. Police generals are being implicated in extrajudicial killings that marred the war on drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte.Some police officials were also exposed as protectors of jueteng operators who raked in millions daily from the national vice.Throughout its existence, the PNP has been vulnerable to political patronage. In an extensive paper in 2010, 'Politics and Policing in the Philippines: Challenges to Police Reform,' Glenn Varona explains that it is 'extremely difficult for a police officer to get ahead in the institution without the help of political or institutional supporters, who are usually higher ranking officers or political leaders or both.'No significant reform can take root in the PNP until the organization is shielded from corruption and patronage.As the population grows, so does the PNP's responsibility to protect and serve the people. Under the international standard in policing, there should be one officer for every 500 citizens.As of 2020, the PNP had a little more than 230,000 officers. With the country's population at 109 million, the 1:500 ratio is far too difficult to achieve.Remulla must not be overly focused in determining just how many generals are needed to run the PNP. Introducing reforms requires a broader view that covers not only the need to deliver quality service but maintaining high morale as well.Equally important in the reforming the police is civic engagement, where, according to Varona, 'citizens are able, as equals to each other and with the police, to collaborate, which is to say that these various stakeholders could participate together for deliberation and collective action through various interests, institutions and networks.'Such an approach could instill 'civic identity,' where the people feel they are directly involved in the processes of governance.