QCPD official fired over Sona deployments

Philippine National Police chief Guillermo Eleazar relieved a Quezon City police station commander after 82 of her personnel tested positive of COVID-19, more than half of whom were deployed during President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 3 commander Lt. Col. Cristine Tabdi fielded 51 policemen to the Sona on Monday although they were still awaiting the results of their reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests.

The results were released only on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“This should serve as a reminder to all our commanders to exercise prudence and to strictly abide by our existing protocols amid the serious threat of COVID-19, especially with the rising number of infections from the Delta variant,” Eleazar said.

During a routine swab test conducted on Friday, 82 of 161 personnel from QCPD Station 3 tested positive for COVID-19.

The patients have been brought to the city’s isolation facilities, while the 42 individuals who were identified as close contacts were quarantined at Camp Karingal and will undergo swab tests.

Operations of the QCPD station will continue despite the clustering of cases in its office but complaints will only be received in an outdoor reception while visitations are temporarily prohibited, Tabdi said.

Mayor Joy Belmonte ordered the vaccination of the remaining police officers assigned in the city amid an uptick in the average daily cases in Quezon City. From an average of 150 new cases per day two weeks ago, this week records an average of 188 daily cases.