BACOLOD City – Eighteen out of the 32 personnel of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have recovered from the disease.
Among them are the chiefs of the E.B. Magalona police station and La Carlota City police station, according to Lieutenant Wilma Silva, NOCPPO deputy public information officer.
They yielded negative results in their latest swab tests, Silva said.
The remaining 14 active cases are still isolated in quarantine facilities, she added.
In E.B. Magalona, Police Captain Wilfredo Benoman reported back to duty on Oc. 26, along with three others including a police officer, a non-uniformed personnel and a job order staff.
During the time Benoman and his men were under quarantine, troops of the 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company were assigned to cover for them at the station.
In La Carlota, Lieutenant Colonel Jonel Guadalupe continues to discharge his duties as police chief but will complete seven more days of isolation.
Silva said that as front-liners, police personnel face a high risk of contracting the virus even if they adhere to minimum health protocols.
Several of those who tested positive have been assigned to secure locally-stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos in various quarantine and isolation facilities, she said.
The NOCPPO, headed by Colonel Romy Palgue, recently organized the 1st Shoot for Peace to raise funds for police personnel who tested positive for COVID-19.
Silva said that those who have already recovered received cash assistance, grocery items, and a sack of rice.
Some of the recoveries were also able to donate convalescent plasma to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Blood Bank here as part of the NOCPPO’s “Plasma Mo, Armas Ko Batuk Sa COVID-19” program. (With a report from PNA/PN)
