Cops no longer need to comply with Body Mass Index (BMI) to be promoted for now, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Eleazar said he approved the recommendation to temporary suspend the implementation of the PNP Memorandum Circular 2020-029 which requires compliance with BMI in their promotion system.

"In approving this, we took into consideration the balance between the workload of all our personnel in this time of pandemic and the need for them to comply with this Memorandum Circular just to be promoted," he said.

Eleazar said they need to understand the situation of their personnel especially those who are assigned to implement the minimum public health safety protocol 24/7.

"But this suspension will return once we return back to normal," he said.

The BMI requirement as part of promotion was implemented last December 2020.

BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. Ella Dionisio/DMS