BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Following the three-day surveillance testing last week, there are now 18 policemen in Bacolod found to be infected with the coronavirus disease, P/Lt. Liberty Indiape, city police spokesperson, said.
On Friday and over the weekend, operatives from Police Station 4 were swabbed and results showed that 13 of them, including their station commander, P/Major Jun Ray Batadlan, tested positive for Covid.
Aside from the policemen, a person deprived of liberty and detained at Police Station 4, also tested positive for Covid and is now in a quarantine facility, Indiape said.
Policemen from police stations 1 and 2 were subjected to surveillance testing Monday while personnel from stations 3, 5 and 6 and the BCPO headquarters were swabbed yesterday, she said.
Indiape added that acting city police director, P/Col. Manuel Placido, was swabbed Monday but the result is yet to be released.
Due to the increasing number of policemen infected by the disease, the BCPO building and offices were disinfected yesterday by the team from the Emergency Response of the City Disaster Risk and Response Management Office.
Placido encouraged the policemen not to let their guard down and always be safe and also urged the cooperation of the people to help in the fight against Covid-19 by doing their share in the information dissemination and safety precautions. The scheduled surveillance testing of policemen from stations 7 to 10 will be held next week.*
