MANILA, Philippines — The donation drive launched by the Philippine National Police (PNP) has so far raised P34 million, its leadership said Tuesday.
The PNP campaign to raise P200 million to augment funds of the government’s social amelioration program amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis started April 12.
According to PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa, the police organization has to date secured cash and pledges from star-rank and top officers and their staff.
“A fund-raiser challenge I posed is now snowballing amongst the 205,000-strong national police organization that aims to generate some P200-million from our own pockets to augment government funds for Social Amelioration Programs for Filipinos in the marginalized sectors,” he said in his live address.
Dubbed as the Bayanihan Fund Challenge, Gamboa stressed it is “strictly voluntary with no standard amount of contribution specified.”
He also said the project does not authorize automatic salary deduction or the use of funds sourced from PNP appropriations.
“More than our services, this is our golden opportunity to selflessly share, provide social and moral support and economic relief to our fellow Filipinos who belong to the poorest of the poor,” he said, also inviting associations, classes, and organizations within the PNP to participate.
Meanwhile, leaders of the PNP Command Group and Directorial Staff, Police Regional Offices, and National Support Units, as well as all star-rank officers have committed to donating 50 percent of their basic pay for the month of May to the fund drive.
The Directorate for Comptrollership (DC) will be the office primarily responsible for the project and will craft plans for the turnover of collected funds to the national treasury or appropriate government agency “to ensure transparency and accountability,” PNP said.
The Directorate of Police Community Relations will assist the DC in communicating the project to lower units of PNP, it added.
Gamboa then condoled with families of PNP personnel who have died due to COVID-19. As of 6 p.m. Monday, three police officers have succumbed to the highly infectious respiratory illness.
In a virtual press briefing on Tuesday, PNP deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the number of police officers infected with the virus rose to 50. Another 348 were considered COVID-19 “suspects” while 254 were tagged as “probable.”
“Finally, I join everyone in prayer for our own brothers and sisters in uniform who were among the mortalities of this deadly contagion. Others who may have been infected as well are assured of adequate supportive healthcare from the PNP until they are fully recovered to return to duty,” he said.
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