To help augment the pandemic response for its personnel who contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) formally turned over P2.5 million grant to the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday, April 26.
Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases, PAGCOR turned over the said grant to the PNP for the procurement of medical supplies to be used in its hospitals and health facilities - where over 1,300 infected PNP personnel are undergoing treatment.
“We will always support the law enforcement agencies,” PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo said. “This is our own little way of showing our gratitude and recognizing your sacrifices for the country,” she added.
Domingo led the turn-over of the grant. She explained that the funding will “specifically help sustain the operations of PNP’s quarantine and health facilities” in Bicutan, Kiangan Hall in Camp Crame, and in different police district isolation facilities.
Currently, PAGCOR noted that the PNP “has already lost a total of 36 personnel – including three senior officers and a pregnant officer – to COVID-19, while responding to the call of duty.”
Domingo added that aside from the cash grant, a modern medical center for police officers and their families will soon rise at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City after PAGCOR tapped its licensee’s foundation – the Resorts World Philippines Cultural Heritage Foundation (RWPCHF) – to allocate P500 million for the construction of what will be called the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Medical Center.
The hospital project’s groundbreaking took place on January 22, 2021.
Meanwhile, PNP Chief Debold Sinas thanked PAGCOR for its “untiring support” to the PNP.
Domingo, on the other hand, commended PNP for choosing for move forward despite criticisms.
“Having observed the PNP in the last months, I believe that the determination, strength, will, and complete understanding of General Sinas on what a chief PNP should do, pushed the PNP to continuously move forward,” Domingo said. “I think, one has to have clear thinking, a strong heart, and a strong mind to go forward despite all criticisms,” she added.
The turn-over of PAGCOR’s donation coincided with the unveiling of PNP’s newest all-recycled-metal statue of the first Filipino hero Lapu-Lapu within the PNP headquarters.