Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has expressed gratitude to President Duterte for reiterating the need to vaccinate policemen and their family amid the continuous threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Eleazar said the line of work of policemen as frontliners make it necessary for them to be protected, what with the continuous rise of infection in the PNP which is now more than 22,000 with 62 deaths.

"On behalf of the more than 200,000-strong PNP, I express my sincere gratitude to President Duterte because he does not forget the welfare of policemen and soldiers amid the pandemic," said Eleazar.

In his public address aired Tuesday morning, Duterte reiterated that the state security forces, including their families, should be among those first in line for inoculation.

“Sa bawat lockdown na ipinapatupad, sa bawat paglabag sa alituntunin ng quarantine, at sa bawat transportasyon ng bakuna gaano man ito kalayo at pagbabantay sa mga komunidad at vaccination sites, lagi pong nandiyan ang inyong kapulisan upang magbantay at umagapay (For every lockdown, for every implementation of the quarantine rules and for every transportation of vaccines and security of vaccination sites, your PNP is always there to assist),” said Eleazar.

“Bawat kapulisan ay may kanya-kanyang pamilyang inuuwian pagkatapos ng duty at bawat isa sa kanila, gaano man katapang, ay nangangamba din na makapag-uwi sila ng virus at makompromiso ang kaligtasan ng kanilang pamilya. Ito po ang nakita ng ating Pangulo at nagpapasalamat po kami dahil hindi niya kinakalimutan ang kapakanan at kaligtasan ng mga pulis at maging ng mga sundalo sa gitna ng pandemya (Every policeman has a family and no matter how brave our policemen are to face the threat of COVID-19, they too are afraid that they might bring home the virus. This was probably what the President has in mind that's why he wanted policemen and soldiers included in the priority list),” he added.