THEY may not be manning Quarantine Control Points or anti-criminality checkpoints in strategic parts of the country to enforce minimum health protocols and help arrest criminality.

However, members of the Philippine National Police Headquarters Support Service (PNP-HSS) have been considered as real ‘unsung heroes’ in the fight against the dreaded virus as they have been literally risking their lives to build quarantine facilities in Camp Crame while ensuring that its occupants and other guests and visitors fully comply with health protocols imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

The Journal Group learned that since December 10, 2020, members of the PNP-HSS headed by Brigadier General Arthur V. Bisnar have built 350 of the 362 COVID-19 treatment and isolation rooms in Camp Crame. The 12 others at the so-called Dehta Ward were constructed by the PNP Engineering Service headed by Brig. Gen. Abelardo C. Matillano.

The hard work has not spared officers and men of the PNP-HSS from the virus. Since last year, more than 200 HSS personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 although majority of them have fully recovered from the disease and are now back in full duty status.

Only 12 HSS personnel remain at the Kiangan Emergency Treatment Facility (KETF) as of this writing.

“It really saddens me to see my men catching the virus while doing their work. However, just the mere thought of saving the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of police personnel who were confined in those rooms gives me the sense of purpose, relevance and contentment,” Bisnar, the ‘Baron’ of Philippine Military Academy ‘Bigkis Lahi’ Class of 1990 told the Journal Group.

Bisnar said they have only one purpose when they went to build those facilities: to help their colleagues who have been suffering from much worse conditions.

Apart from building the quarantine facilities, members of the PNP-HSS have fully turned Camp Crame into a ‘zone of discipline’ where they have been fully enforcing the wearing of face masks and face shields and social distancing while strictly implementing all camp rules and regulations and other measures to protect the facility from the virus and other unlawful acts.

Last week, PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas led the ceremonial turnover and blessing of their latest quarantine facility inside Camp Crame.

The PNP chief said the Basketball Court Ward at the KETF has a 96-bed capacity, a 16 cubicle shower-rest room/Donning-Doffing Area and other amenities needed by COVID-19 patients.

Also inaugurated was the Mechanical Scissor Lifter of the KETF.

Sinas said the additional quarantine facility is the 3rd accommodation installed inside the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame as the PNP Health Service continues to manage active cases COVID-19 infection among PNP personnel.

“This initiative is still part of the organization’s Biosafety Plan, helping our personnel to have a place where they can stay without worrying about infecting their family members as well as the rent fee and their meal while in quarantine,” the PNP chief said.

The whole Kiangan Complex has been converted into quarantine facilities with a 266-bed capacity.

As of yesterday, PNP Deputy Chief for Administration and concurrent Administrative Support for Joint COVID-19 Task Force commander, Lieutenant Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said they have already recorded more than 20,300 COVID-19 cases in the force since March last year.

However, nearly 19,000 of them have fully recovered from the disease and are now back in full duty status.

Eleazar said that since March 2020, 56 PNP personnel have died after contracting the virus. The PNP-HS headed by Brigadier Gen. Luisito P. Magnaye is also monitoring nearly 1,700 active cases in the force to date, the official added.

The official said more than 800 PNP personnel assigned in different offices in Camp Crame have contracted the virus.

Of the different National Administrative Support Units, the PNP Health Service headed by Brig. Gen. Luisito P. Magnaye has logged the most number of cases to date with 313 followed by the PNP-HSS with 280 and the PNP Information Technology Management Service with 113. Overall, more than 1,200 NOSU personnel have been afflicted by the virus since March last year.

On the other hand, there were more than 4,500 members of different National Operational Support Units who have gotten the virus, the biggest of them the PNP Special Action Force with more than 1,000 followed by the PNP Aviation Security Group with more than 770, the Police Security and Protection Group with 507; and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group with 325.