MANILA, Philippines — All “qualified” personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who are at the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis will receive hazard pay of P500 a day starting Thursday.
“I am glad to announce that on April 16, qualified personnel shall receive their hazard pay at the uniform rate of P500 per day,” PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said in his live address on Tuesday.
“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,” he also said.
This is higher than the P235 daily hazard pay that police officers at the frontline of the battle against COVID-19 were previously receiving.
The PNP leadership earlier explained that while other government frontliners are given P500 a day hazard pay, police officers receive a lesser amount as it is all it can afford based on available funds.
PNP had asked the Department of Budget and Management to increase the hazard pay of policemen who are mostly manning control checkpoints established under the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and other parts of the country.
“Another P5,000 windfall is also due for PSMBFI (Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Inc.) members as financial assistance to see them through this crisis,” Gamboa also said.
Moreover, Gamboa bared that PNP has started a donation drive among its 205,000-strong organization that aims to generate some P200 million to augment the government’s funds for the social amelioration program.
He stressed that the donation drive is “strictly voluntary with no standard amount of contributions specified” and that there will be no automatic salary deduction from PNP personnel or funds sourced from the organization’s appropriations.
The latest PNP data showed that 50 police officers have tested positive for COVID-19. Another 348 cops were considered COVID-19 “suspects” while 254 were tagged as “probable.”
KGA
RELATED STORY
DOH revises how virus cases are categorized