At least 5o cops assigned in Metro Manila have tested positive for COVID-19, the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Deputy Chief for Operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar announced in a virtual presser today.
Eleazar said that aside from the 50, there are also 254 probable cases and 348 suspected cases of COVID-19 in the PNP. He added that the PNP has allotted facilities to support and house the infected members of the police, though he did not specify where they were located.
Members of the PNP have been deployed to man checkpoints in different parts of Luzon since the island was put on lockdown. A few have also been sent to Metro Manila public markets yesterday after reports emerged that some marketgoers have ignored the government’s calls to practice social distancing. Eleazar said that the cops have been guarding the markets to limit the number of people entering such places.
As of today, the police have apprehended at least 111,000 people who have violated the rules imposed by the government during the lockdown, which started on March 17.
Read: PNP to dispatch nearly 40,000 cops if Metro Manila lockdown ordered
In a separate live address, PNP Chief General Archie Gamboa today said that cops will also be given hazard pay at a rate of PHP500 (US$10) per day starting this week.
“I am glad to announce that on April 16, qualified personnel shall receive their hazard pay at the uniform rate of [PHP]500 per day,” Gamboa said. “That should further boost the financial flexibility of our troops and their families apart from the range of salaries and allowances in April sans any deduction for loan amortization for this month.”
Gamboa’s announcement comes almost two weeks after the PNP asked the Department of Budget and Management to raise the policemen’s hazard pay. Police frontliners had previously received a daily hazard pay of PHP235 (US$4) before the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act of 2020 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
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