The Philippine National Police was able to augment the number of its Special Action Force (SAF) troopers with over 500 this year after a series of continuous recruitment and training.

The SAF has seen a significant decrease after the Mamasapano incident that killed international terrorist Zulkifli Binhir alias Marwan on January 25, 2015. The said clash also wiped out 44 SAF commandos.

According to data from PNP, their recent recruitment activities pulled in an additional 548 men this year The elite force recruited 329 on July 1 and 219 on October 1.

Of the 548 recruits, 50 percent is from Mindanao, including 50 females.

SAF Spokesperson P/S Insp. Jayson Abalos remarked that more individuals have become interested to join the group despite the tragic Mamasapano incident. Last year, they were only able to recruit an additional 200 troopers.

Upon entering the SAF, Abalos explained that an applicant must undergo rigid, commando-type training to hone their skills on unconventional warfare, search and rescue, civil disturbance management, and hostage rescue.

SAF recruits are also required to acquire knowledge on other special operations such as troop insertion, close air support and casualty evacuation.

“The first six months is indoctrination of the job of a police and then they will be experiencing the rudiments of a life of a policeman for the field training program,” the SAF spokesperson said.

After that, they will go to the SAF commando course,” he added.

Despite the increase in SAF recruits, the force is still in need of 5,000 troopers. Currently, they only have 4,300 members.