MENTAL HEALTH INTERVENTION. Some 300 police recruits for the 1st Cycle CY 2020 take their oath of office at the Regional Training Center in Barangay Jugan, Consolacion, Cebu on July 5, 2020. The CCPO’s deputy director for operations, Lt. Col. Wilbert Parilla, said Friday (Sept. 10, 2021) they would conduct personnel welfare intervention to address the mental stress experienced by rookie cops while serving on the front lines in the fight against Covid-19. (Photo courtesy of PRO-7)
CEBU CITY – The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will conduct welfare intervention to cushion the impact of quarantine duties on its personnel’s emotional and mental health, an official said Friday.
Lt. Col. Wilbert Parilla, CCPO deputy director for operations, said in a press conference the police leadership here has recognized the need to monitor the behavior of their personnel, considering the physical, emotional, and mental stress they have experienced during more than one year of being on the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“We may recommend for some rest and recreation (R and R) for our personnel as an immediate intervention to avoid them being caught with the effect of stress while serving (on) the front line of barangay control points, recorida (info-drive), and Oplan Bulabog (operation plan dispersal),” he said in Cebuano.
Parilla’s remarks came after a rookie cop who was assigned to an inter-village control point to enforce the Oplan Puyo (operation plan stay at home) of acting Mayor Michael Rama, committed suicide early Friday.
The identity of the police officer was withheld pending notification of his family in Zamboangita, Negros Oriental.
Parilla said the police officer was preparing to go back to his battalion unit to get the firearms to be issued to the newly hired batch of police officers.
The cop, he said, was undergoing specialization training, as mandated by the PNP, after finishing the six-month basic recruit course and another six months in the field training program.
“Since then until he was assigned to comprise the augmentation force to the existing personnel fighting the Covid-19 in Cebu City, he was not able to go home,” Parilla said.
On August 15, about 700 personnel coming from the CCPO, the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) 7 (Central Visayas), and the Philippine Army were deployed to enforce minimum health protocols in the villages, after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases placed the city under modified enhanced community quarantine.
Some of these cops were assigned to man border control checkpoints while others were tasked to randomly inspect public utility vehicles to ensure compliance with health protocols and the loading capacity per trip.
Parilla said most of the new police recruits from outside Cebu who came here to augment the forces on quarantine duties, have not gone home since their deployment to the city. (PNA)
