PNP sets up assistance desks at evacuation centers

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has set up assistance desks in evacuation centers to help typhoon victims with their concerns.

In Metro Manila, the National Capital Regional Police Office has set up Police Assistance Desks in 208 evacuation centers in different cities.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima urged all police personnel involved in ongoing disaster rescue and relief operations to continue making these small sacrifices to help the victims of the storm-induced monsoon rains that inundated a large part of Northern, Central and Southern Luzon as well as Metro Manila since the weekend.

In a briefing for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Tuesday, Director Lina Sarmiento, concurrent Task Coordinator of the PNP Sub-Committee on Disaster Management, reported that a total of 1,015 police personnel, four troop carrier trucks and two inflatable boats to flood-stricken areas in Metro Manila.

“These are the communities along the banks of the Marikina River, and in flood-prone areas in Camanava, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Parañaque and Las Piñas City where 187 persons were rescued and brought to safer ground,” said Sarmiento, also the chief of the PNP Director for Police Community Relations.

Purisima commended policemen personnel, who opted to report for work despite the fact that they themselves are typhoon victims. Some police personnel and their families were themselves victims of the disaster, some of whom were stranded inside their submerged homes.