TACLOBAN CITY-Close to P9 million was raised by personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Eastern Visayas as part of the organization’s assistance to help individuals who were affected by the impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019( COVID-19).
This was disclosed by Police Regional Director Bernabe Barba during a virtual press conference on Friday who said that the money they have collected will be forwarded to their central headquarter in Camp Crame.
Barba said that the more than 9,000 personnel of the PNP in Eastern Visayas joined in the fund raising by giving a ‘portion’ of their salary.
Earlier, PNP chief General Archie Gamboa has called on all police personnel to help people who were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the poor, by launching a fund-raising he dubbed as ‘Team PNP Bayanihan Fund Challenge.’
“We have this fund raising, collected from a part of our salaries, to answer the call of our government to help our people,” Barba said.
He said that during their fund-raising activity, which started on April 14, they were able to collect more than P8.9 million from the various police offices and units in the region.
The collected amount was forwarded to their national headquarters on Thursday (April 23), the police regional director said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ma. Bella Rentuaya, police regional spokesperson, said the initiative is an offshoot of a fund-raising project launched by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Archie Francisco Gamboa on April 14, 2020 dubbed as “Team PNP Bayanihan Fund Challenge.”
The PNP called on all its personnel, regardless of rank and position, to practice the spirit of volunteerism to assist in augmenting funds in support for the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).
The move is the PNP’s response to Presidente Rodrigo Duterte’s call for the entire Filipino nation to raise funds to support the campaign of the government and help those who are greatly affected by the COVID-19 crisis, particularly those belonging to the poorest of the poor families, according to PRO-Eastern Visayas in a statement.
The various offices and units of the PNP in the region are also doing their own share in food-giving to families and individuals hard-hit by the pandemic, dubbed as “Kapwa Ko, Sagot.”
Among those assisted by the police organization was the four orphaned siblings living in Barangay Camparanga of Pambujan town in Northern Samar.
The gesture, posted by the 2nd Northern Samar Provincial Mobile Force Company, on their Facebook, touched netizens that it generated more than 4,400 likes and 1,700 shares as of April 24.
Various individuals and groups have signified to help the children who live among themselves after their parents were killed in a hacking incident last year.
The children, with the oldest at 13 years old and the youngest only six years old, is being looked after by their aunt who have her own children and have no steady income of her own.(JOEY A. GABIETA/
RONALD O. REYES)
