Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of PRO-7, says the policemen under self-quarantine have just arrived from Manila for a seminar or on official business there.. | CDND Photos / ALven Marie A. Timtim
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Forty-one policemen and one non-uniformed member of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), are currently under self-quarantine or home quarantine and monitoring.
Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, PRO-7 director, announced in a press briefing on Monday afternoon, March 16, 2020, that these 42 personnel all came recently from Manila, where some of them attended a seminar while the others were there on official business.
All the 42 personnel said Ferro, would be in a home quarantine for 14 days after they arrived in their respective areas on the weekend after their visit in Manila.
Traveled to areas with COVID-19 cases
According to Police Colonel Relie David Canlas, Regional Health Services in Central Visayas (RHS-7) director, the 42 personnel did not show any symptoms related to COVID-19, but they were classified as persons under monitoring (PUM) since they had traveled to areas with positive COVID-19 cases.
“Wala silang symptoms na connected sa COVID-19,” said Canlas.
(They do not have symptoms of COVID-19.)
As of this time, Canlas said that they had not received any reports yet about these policemen showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Ferro said that PRO-7 had also taken precautionary measures against COVID-19.
These included policemen wearing face masks, constantly applying disinfectants and undergoing thermal scanning.
Policemen in the police stations, who would often receive complaints and were considered more exposed, were advised to establish a three-meter distance when talking to the complainants.
Amid the preventive measures taken by the government and assisted by the police and military force, Ferro said they were hoping that the community would cooperate and would also seriously take the advise of the agency.
Ferro also criticized comments from the public about their disappointment about how the COVID-19 was being handled.
“Those that cannot contribute to anything, they should not say anything. They should just keep quiet, follow the rules. Because a lot of this people are saying a lot of things but they cannot do anything,” said Ferro./dbs