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)
EV cops raise close to P9 million
Alfred asks DOH not to bring COVID-19 suspects to Tacloban
By: JOEY A. GABIETA
TACLOBAN CITY-The mayor of this city, Alfred Romualdez, has issued an appeal to the Department of Health (DOH) to stop transporting patients confirmed to have afflicted with the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) but are only showing ‘mild symptoms.’
Patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19 are brought at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), based this city.
But Mayor Romualdez said that transporting these patients to Tacloban gives an impression that the city, considered as the regional center of Eastern Visayas, has COVID-19 cases.
Tacloban City, with more than 214,000 people, remains to be COVID-19-free city though it is monitoring nine individuals suspected to have the virus.
“Why bring the patients to Tacloban City, at the EVRMC when they have only showing mild symptoms. Why not just isolate them at their respective hospitals and not transport them here,” Romualdez, in a hastily called press conference, said on Wednesday (April 22).
Romualdez, however, said that if the patient is suffering severe symptoms or the place where he comes from have no needed medical equipment, he would not question the decision of the DOH to transport the patient to the EVRMC.
“For humanitarian consideration, if the patient is suffering severe symptoms, then the city will accept him with open arms. But we have observed that those patients were only (suffering) of mild symptoms,” he said.
He said that having a COVID-19 patient though coming from outside Tacloban, gives an impression that the city has its own COVID-19 case and could expose its people of possible transmission of the virus.
Romualdez has placed the entire city under restrictive community quarantine effective March 21 which is to end on April 28.
He, however, imposed stricter border control after a confirmed COVID-19 case was transported by the DOH to the EVRMC who come from Burauen, Leyte last April 16.
But in a separate statement, the DOH said that EVRMC has been identified as the referral hospital for those suffering from COVID-19, adding that during the transportation of the patient, their staff strictly follows the protocols like the wearing of the personal protective equipment with the ambulance used immediately being disinfected to ensure that no virus would be transmitted.
No member of the patient’s family is also being allowed during the travel, the DOH said.
It also added that the six confirmed cases have ‘comorbidities’ such as asthma, hypertension, and diabetes.
“This is the reason why they were transported to the referral hospital. They need close monitoring and proper management. Also, our manpower, particularly specialist physicians capable of handling COVID-19 cases are in EVRMC,” the DOH said.
“And if the result turned positive for COVID-19 and patient is 60 years old above and with comorbidities then they will be transported to EVRMC,” it added.
The DOH also said that all local government units, as the ‘primary responders to the public health emergency,’ are mandated to prepare their own community and quarantine unit to cater the mild symptomatic suspects.
Currently, there are only two COVID-19 patients confined at the EVRMC- one from Burauen, Leyte and Tarangan, Samar.