PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief, Police General Guillermo Eleazar today ordered the administrative relief of the station commander of Police Station 3 of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) for command responsibility.
The order was given in view of the apparent breach of protocol when most of the station’s personnel were deployed for duty during President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 26, even if they were still waiting for the results of their RT-PCR tests.
“Right after the RT-PCR results were released and showed that 82 of our QCPD personnel tested positive for coronavirus, we immediately conducted focused testing on all other QCPD personnel in order to identify, isolate and provide necessary medical assistance for all those who may have been infected by the virus,” Gen. Eleazar said.
He pointed out that they are now waiting for the RT-PCR results of the 167 PNP personnel and they are already prepared for more testing, in coordination with the Quezon City LGU, based on the result of aggressive and continuous contact-tracing that was started on Wednesday, July 28.
“Hindi pa natin alam kung Delta variant ang tumama sa aming mga kasamahan sa QCPD kaya nakikiusap tayo sa ating mga kababayan na iwasan ang mga espekulasyon tungkol dito,” Gen. Eleazar explained.
The PNP, he emphasized, has long prepared for all worse-case scenarios such as this one, which include aggressive vaccination and preparing for more isolation and medical facilities.
“We wish to assure the relatives of those who were infected and also our kababayan of full attention and care for our personnel.”
“This should serve as a reminder to all our commanders to exercise prudence and to strictly abide with our existing protocols amid the serious threat of COVID-19, especially with the rising number of infection from the Delta variant,” Gen. Eleazar averred.
On the other hand, there were unnecessary and insensitive comments from some personalities, he lamented, about the unfortunate incident that happened to more than 80 of PNP personnel.
He reminded the public that the police personnel were deployed to ensure the orderly and peaceful conduct of protest actions of people to express their sentiments. They were also there to protect the rights of motorists and commuters, that they will not be inconvenienced by protest actions along the routes where they regularly pass.
“Hindi makatwiran at hindi makatao na hamakin pa ang ating kapulisan sa kabila ng kanilang sinapit dahil halos lahat ng mga pulis na tinamaan ng COVID ay dahil naman sa pagtupad ng kanilang sinumpaang tungkulin. Sila ay may mga pamilyang nag-aalala din at higit sa lahat, sila ay kapwa natin Pilipino, kaya nakikiusap tayo na maging sensitibo tayo sa ating mga binibitawang salita.”
“Right now, our focus is to ensure that all of our personnel who were infected receive their necessary medical needs and continue our aggressive contact-tracing and testing,” Gen. Eleazar said.