MANILA – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Debold Sinas on Friday assured that the needs of all police officers infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) would be immediately addressed.
“We provided assistance to all our personnel and the amount varies on the need of our personnel,” Sinas told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) when sought for a comment on the recalled memorandum specifying the amounts of cash assistance to be given to PNP personnel who contracted Covid-19.
In a memorandum dated Nov. 24, signed by PNP Comptroller Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Licup, all police regional directors were ordered to give PHP50,000 financial assistance to “all PNP front-liners who tested positive of Covid-19”.
“I have ordered the recall of the memo because of some confusion in the appreciation of our people on the ground,” Licup said in a text message sent to PNA.
Sinas earlier clarified that the amount of assistance to be given to Covid-19 affected cops would be determined on a “case-to-case basis”.
“During my management, I made it clear to put a minimum and a ceiling amount. As to how much, it is up to us. There is a minimum amount because not everyone can just get a big amount, for example, those who are asymptomatic, they are not much of a problem. It is only fitting that we give to severe cases, those who really went across different hospitals just to beat Covid-19,” Sinas told reporters on Thursday after his first command visit in Police Regional Office (PRO) 5 in Legazpi City, Albay.
As of Thursday night, 49 more police officers have recovered from the Covid-19, bringing the total number of recoveries among its ranks to 7,601.
This brings down the number of active cases in the police force to 381, based on data released by the PNP Health Service.
Meanwhile, the PNP logged 31 new infections, bringing the total number of cases to 8,008.
The police force’s Covid-19 death toll stands at 26.