HELP FOR THE POOR. A poor family in Northern Samar receives groceries and cash assistance from the Provincial Mobile Force Company in this undated photo. The Police Regional Office 8 (Eastern Visayas) on Friday (May 1, 2020) said they have already assisted a total of 2,015 indigent families adversely affected by the health crisis, through its “Kapwa Ko, Sagot Ko!” adopt-a-family program. (Photo courtesy of Northern Samar PMFC)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Police Regional Office (PRO) 8 (Eastern Visayas) has been reaching out to help poor families affected by the strict quarantine measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The nationwide effort of the Philippine National Police (PNP), dubbed “Kapwa Ko, Sagot Ko!”, encourages police officers to adopt an indigent family in their respective areas of responsibility by providing them with relief goods or financial assistance enough for at least a week.
Brig. Gen. Bernabe Balba, PRO-8 director, said a total of 2,015 poor families, consisting of 8,939 individuals, in the region have been assisted.
“We understand how difficult living (is) nowadays in these back-breaking moments. We sympathize with the community, especially those who have less income to sustain their daily needs,” Balba said in a statement on Friday.
He said the effort, which they began on March 31, is expected to help more deserving families in
the next days.
“We are doing our best to battle this faceless enemy. Our personnel are not only dedicated to safeguarding our communities but also making initiatives to ease the burden of some of the families adversely affected by this pandemic,” Balba added.
Since the spread of Covid-19 in the country, more than 200 checkpoints across the region have been established to control the movement of people and control the spread of the virus.
The regional police’s health service has also administered anti-pneumonia vaccines to some 3,000 uniformed personnel and volunteers assigned on the front lines, including the Army and those from the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Earlier, PRO-8 also converted an old building at the regional headquarters as a quarantine facility for police officers who would be classified as suspect, probable, or confirmed Covif-19 cases.
To date, the region has no case of infected police personnel. (PNA)
