Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro is seen making an early morning inspection in Barangay Basak San Nicolas in this June 29, 2020 photo.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — For Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, the director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, everyone should help in the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
During the “graduation” ceremony of policemen of the PRO-7 who recovered from the dreaded disease on Monday, July 13, 2020, Ferro, in a speech delivered via video, pleaded to the public to help front-liners in the battle against an invisible enemy.
“For me, the mindset is that this is a medical health emergency. Everybody has the responsibility not only the police, the military or the health workers. This should be a concern and a responsibility of every Filipino,” said Ferro.
“This is a very different war. A different battle ground,” he added.
Watch his message here:
Ferro became emotional during his speech and admitted that he has lost some sleep thinking about the situation of his men who were affected by the virus and those who are still on the ground implementing the protocols to help keep the community safe.
Read: PRO-7 chief gets emotional as 64 cops recover from COVID-19
“With this recovery, I feel so happy that I will not be so stressed and depressed on how my people will be traversing this kind of journey in life,” he said.
Ferro said he was relieved but also worried as the fight against COVID-19 continues. And he believes that we can win this war with the help of the community through their cooperation.
This was echoed by Police Lieutenant Colonel Allan Rosario, chief of operations of the Cebu City Police Office, who was one of the 64 who were cleared from COVID-19 on Monday.
“It’s a matter of complying. The guidelines on what they are supposed to do are already there.We just need to comply,” he said in a mix of English and Tagalog.
With the 64 new recoveries, there are now a total of 137 policemen who recovered out of the 301 recorded positive cases in the police force in Central Visayas. Only 164 active cases are left. /bmjo