Cops, soldiers honored for papal visit service

MANILA, Philippines - Personnel from the police force and the military who were deployed during the five-day papal visit will receive awards today.

Contingents from the Philippine National Police national headquarters and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will be given recognition today to highlight the celebration of the PNP’s 24th founding anniversary, while police officers from the provinces will receive their awards on Feb. 2 in their respective offices.

Over 28,000 police officers will be given recognition for their involvement in the security and public safety operations during the recent visit of Pope Francis.

The ceremony follows the launch of an investigation into the missing allowance of police officers deployed for the papal visit.

PNP officials have been ordered to explain how the P2,400 allowance for police officers had been distributed.

Several police officers complained that they were given only P700 instead of the announced P2,400 as allowance for the eight-day deployment, although the PNP maintained that the P2,400 was for food provisions and should not have been distributed as cash.

On Friday, PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina approved the relief of Superintendent Evangeline Martos, budget officer of the Police Security Protection Office, pending investigation. The PSPG is a national support unit of the PNP tasked to provide close-in security to dignitaries and members of the papal entourage.

With P2,400 allocated for each of the 28,000 police officers for eight days, the PNP spent P67.2 million for meals alone. The PNP, however, has yet to release the total amount it spent for the papal visit. 

Meanwhile, soldiers who secured the papal visit will be given merit medals after the flag ceremony of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense at Camp Aguinaldo.

They will be cited for “meritorious performance on duty” as members of the security contingent.

About 10,000 soldiers and 7,000 military reservists were deployed to assist the police force to ensure the safety of Pope Francis.