The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) has reminded its personnel to remove their unauthorized tattoos by 3 October.

PRO-7 spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare said that those with tattoos will have to shoulder the cost of having them removed.

He also warned that failure to comply will be tantamount to “neglect of duty or irregularity in the performance of duty.”

Pelare stressed that unauthorized tattoos are considered “extremist, racist, discriminative, and promote violence.”

However, aesthetic tattoos or related to beauty, like eyebrows, eyeliner, or lips tattoos, are exempt from the PNP policy.

Pelare said the policy was crafted to ensure police officers look professional.

“We want to make sure that our police officers are professional-looking and respectful. We want to emphasize, we are not saying that having tattoos are bad. It’s not the concept that we are trying to disseminate here,” Pelare said.

PRO-7 is currently conducting an inventory among its officers and personnel with tattoos.

Recently, Philippine National Police chief Police General Rommel Marbil ordered the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management to issue a moratorium to pave the way for the review of Memorandum Circular 2024-023, which orders uniformed and non-uniformed personnel to have their visible tattoos removed.