BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Debold Sinas reminded thousands of policemen here and in Negros Occidental to take good care of their health while enforcing quarantine rules to stem the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
During his visit here on Sunday, Sinas said frontliner cops are also at risk of the virus while ensuring peace and order.
Since recording started in March last year, 30 policemen in Negros Occidental have succumbed to COVID-19, records from the Provincial Health Office showed.
To ensure the health of these policemen, Colonel Romy Palgue, provincial police director, said the PNP’s Health Service regularly conducts medical checkup to police officers.
These police officers were also given free medicines and vitamins.
Meanwhile, Sinas commended the Negros Occidental police force for maintaining peace and order in the province despite being kept busy by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He challenged policemen to sustain their gains in the war against illegal drugs, corruption, illegal gambling, and the local communist insurgency.
Sinas, together with high-ranking PNP officials, also met with Catholic bishops of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to discuss areas of mutual cooperation to address the combined security and moral and spiritual dimensions of peacekeeping, law and order, justice and human rights.
“The Catholic Church provides one of the strongest pillars of support to the PNP in its selfless desire to serve and protect the community. We have been actively involved in countless church activities, the latest of which being the feasts of the Black Nazarene and the Sto. Niño last January which both became peaceful and orderly,” Sinas said in a statement.
Sinas also graced the groundbreaking of the P10-million Transient Quarters of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) at Camp Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr. in this city.
The transient quarters would enable police officers assigned at the NOCPPO to settle immediately in the area and render police service.
Sinas thanked Rep. Stephen Paduano of the Abang-Lingkod party-list for the inclusion of the transient quarters in the General Appropriations Act of 2021.
Construction of the 12-room transient quarters will begin once the Special Allotment Release Order from the Department of Budget Management (DBM) is released.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, for his part, said Sinas’ presence would inspire and boost the morale of the police in Negros Occidental, given the difficulty and complexity of their present tasks.
“Our present circumstances have demonstrated quite clearly our need for utmost unity and cooperation if we are to overcome the manifold challenges we are confronted with right now,” he said./PN