PNP Director General Alan Purisima INQUIRER File Photo
MANILA, Philippines—It’s always a brotherhood.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Alan Purisima arrived in Palo, Leyte Friday morning to give food and financial aid to uniformed personnel affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Purisima wento to the PNP Regional Headquarters in Camp Kangleon in Palo to lead the distribution of relief goods to the typhoon-stricken policemen, after he visited the heavily-damaged PNP-Criminal Identification and Detection Group office in Tacloban, the PNP said in a statement.
The PNP chief handed over an initial amount of P71,000 each to the families of the six policemen who died during Yolanda’s onslaught.
According to the statement, there are insurance benefits for the deceased police officers amounting to P2.3 million, which is already being processed.
Purisima also led the distribution of 4,000 relief materials to 3,187 police personnel. About 1,500 police uniforms were also distributed, including athletic and camouflage uniforms and shoes.
An additional P10,000 in benefits were given to the families of the six deceased policemen, P5,000 each for the 16 injured policemen and P3,000 for 453 personnel affected by the typhoon.
He also committed financial assistance that various PNP regional offices and other agencies donated, amounting to P3.2 million with additional pledges of P506,000 to be distributed among all affected PNP personnel in the region.
Purisima also announced the early release of the 13th month pay and Christmas bonuses for all police officers in Eastern Visayas.
Applications
At the same time, the PNP said that affected police personnel can apply for a special calamity loan of up to P30,000 with zero interest and another emergency loan of up to P50,000 with three percent interest.
Purisima said there is an assistance fund of P4 million for the entire PNP and Armed Forces personnel of Samar and Leyte.
Additional help
Purisima arrived in Palo with three doctors, six psychologists, five nurses, and five aid men from the health service in Manila to look into all injured personnel and to help address post-traumatic needs.
The PNP chief also donated two generator sets, two units of water purification systems, computers and scanners for the PNP offices in Samar and Leyte.
“These may be simple tokens of appreciation for what you have done in the name of service and commitment to your responsibility as law enforcers but they symbolize our great concern for you,” Pursima said.
“Let us continue to be united and be optimistic that there is no storm or obstacle that is so great that could break our spirit or defeat our collective strength.”
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