Philippine National Police chief General Archie Gamboa has been hearalded as the police chief who reintroduced the PNP’s weight loss campaign after the disgraceful failure of his predecessor.

Through the weight loss program, he sought to improve cops’ performance by improving their health. There were clear consequences for failure: he warned cops that if they are obese, the likelihood of promotion would be nil. 

“For those overweight, I hope this could be one of your driving forces to hit the gym and to start a healthy living. Being disciplined is the key,” he once said during a speech in January, days after he was appointed top cop by President Rodrigo Duterte.

But on Monday, March 2, one of his deputies disclosed Gamboa’s body mass index (BMI), which indicated he was himself overweight.

In a presentation in the Camp Crame main conference room, where generals held their command conferences, human resource and doctrine development chief Major General Amador Corpus flashed Gamboa’s height and weight, and the description that he was “overweight”, during a briefing on the PNP’s physical fitness campaign.



Gamboa stands 5 feet and 7 inches, and weighs 78 kilograms, making his BMI approximately 26.9. To be classified as “normal,” he needs a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.

Gamboa appeared to take it lightly, chuckling and smiling as the slide was shown.

Corpus downplayed the overweight rating of Gamboa, saying that while he was not in the ideal shape by World Health Organization standards, he was accepted by the PNP’s “adjusted” metrics.

The two-star general explained during his presentation that as cops get older, they are given higher consideration, reflected by adjustment in their BMI, if they are older. Corpus defended this by explaining that metabolism generally slows down once a person ages.

Gamboa is only one of over 100,000 cops who are overweight. In 2018, the PNP found that 73.64% of their personnel who underwent their annual physical examination were overweight. Metro Manila police chief Major General Debold Sinas has also become recognizable for being active in the weight loss program, acknowledging that he is also overweight.

Corpus’ presentation on Monday was part of the PNP’s launching of Project Tarung, the PNP’s discipline project that seeks to normalize cops’ BMIs, to keep track of their internal cleansing campaign, and to implement policies to improve the performance of the police force like forming all-female police squads.

In earlier interviews, Gamboa said he employs intermittent fasting as well as badminton to improve his physical fitness. The rest of the cops, meanwhile, are undergoing a months-long physical fitness project. – Rappler.com