PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) comptroller Major General Emmanuel Luis Licup on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, recalled a memorandum specifying the amounts of cash assistance to PNP personnel who contract coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
In a message to SunStar, Licup said the memorandum has created confusion.
PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana, in a separate message to SunStar, clarified that families of policemen who died from Covid-19 will get a cash assistance of P50,000, not P100,000 as stated in Licup’s order.
“P50,000 po ang ayuda sa pamilya ng namatay na pulis sa Covid. Wala na pong iba pa na sinabing financial assistance,” Usana said.
(The family of a policeman who died from Covid will get P50,000 as assistance. No other financial assistance will be given.)
Former PNP chief Archie Gamboa, however, previously directed that the PNP will shoulder the hospitalization expenses of all policemen who fall ill from Covid-19 as well as the burial expenses for the fatalities.
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, November 23, the PNP Health Service said 26 PNP personnel had died from Covid-19.
A total of 7,892 have been infected, including 396 active cases and 7,470 recoveries.
Based on the memorandum recalled by Licup, policemen who test positive for Sars-CoV-2 will get a cash assistance of P50,000 while the family of those who succumb to Covid-19 will get P100,000.
The memorandum also contained other directives issued by PNP Chief Debold Sinas during his visit to the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas on November 20. (From reports of Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo)