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

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

He warned that failure to comply would be tantamount to "neglect of duty or irregularity in the performance of duty."

He stressed that unauthorized tattoos are considered "extremist, racist, discriminative, and promote violence." However, he noted that aesthetic tattoos or those related to beauty, like eyebrow, eyeliner, or lip tattoos, are exempt from the PNP policy.

Pelare said that 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 is bad. It's not the concept that we are trying to disseminate here," Pelare cited.

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

Recently, Philippine National Police Chief General Rommel Francisco Marbil ordered the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) 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.