By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY – Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel in the Western Visayas have pooled their own salaries together, collecting more than P7 million to boost the national government’s fund to provide cash aid for the most vulnerable people being affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
A cop wearing face mask conducts a checkpoint as Iloilo City is under enhanced community quarantine against COVID-19. (Tara Yap/Manila Bulletin)
“We want to do our part in helping those who have less,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, spokesperson of Police Regional Office (PRO-6).
It was part of the Bayanihan Fund Challenge started by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Archie Francisco Gamboa. It aims to raise at least P200 million, which will boost funding for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Malong told The Manila Bulletin that police units in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces, as well as those in the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo, have already pitched in.
Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, PRO-6 director, also led the fundraising among ranked officers at the regional headquarters by donating half of his salary.
Malong said policemen in the frontline have received ample aid from both the national government and private sectors, and it was time to pay-forward to those who were less fortunate.