PROGRAMS that will help uplift the lives of members of the Philippine National Police and their immediate families are among the priorities of PNP chief General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil.

“Before we start helping other people, let us start helping each other first. Kaya po meron tayong Damayan and it will be replicated to all the regions,” the top cop said.

Gen. Marbil was referring to the Damayang May Malasakit Sa Kapulisan foundation.

He initiated this program when he was still the Police Regional Office 8 director from August 2022 to May 2023.

The charity foundation focused primarily on boosting the morale/well-being of all PRO-8 personnel diagnosed with serious medical and/or health concerns.

The PNP chief aired his plan to replicate the program when he visited the PRO-8 headquarters in Palo, Leyte last April 23 and talked with its officers and men led by Brigadier Gen. Reynaldo H. Pawid.

Gen. Marbil expressed his gratitude to all men and women of the PRO-8 even as he called for streamlining operations, emphasizing on removing unnecessary police work and calling for activities that will truly impact on their goal of improving the organization and providing an effective service to the Filipino people.

He also reaffirmed his unwavering dedication to building a new chapter for law enforcement, fostering a stronger relationship between the PNP and the community and further collaborating with their partner-law enforcement agencies to keep the streets safe 24/7.

The PNP chief has encouraged their stakeholders, especially the wealthy ones, to come up with honest-to-goodness programs that will benefit poor and sick members of the 232,000-strong police force and their families.

The 30th PNP chief in particular exhorted the rich to take a close look at the plight of policemen and their families who need urgent medical assistance but cannot afford them.

The top cop is bent on coming up with programs that will really help policemen and their families who are in dire need of medical assistance.

Being exposed to the elements particularly during these ‘very hot days,’ members of the police force, specifically patrollers who ensure public safety 24/7, are prone to catching illness and also have a higher rate of having stress problems.

This is the reason why the police force and their wives and children need adequate medical support.

Although their salaries have been raised, it is understandable that many members of the police force, especially those who still have no home they can really call their own, still suffer from financial woes.

This is because they have to budget their salary for their day-to-day expenses, monthly rent and service utilities’ fee, fare and allowance of their kids who are going to school and even loan deduction.

Money needed to buy their maintenance medicine and to pay for emergency medical hospital needs is also a main concern of many members of the force.

Gen. Marbil said this is a major reason why he is exhorting all PNP stakeholders, especially those who can afford, to help them by coming up with a program that will really support the police force and their families.

At present, there are only a few non-government groups which are providing consistent help to the police force.

One of them is the Chinese General Hospital which provides free medical assistance to policemen who have been ‘wounded in the line of duty’ or while fighting armed criminals and terrorists.

Another is the PNP Foundation, Inc. which has been regularly providing the police force with modern ‘move, shoot, communicate and investigate’ equipment.

Other volunteer and non-governmental organizations including PNP advisory groups help the police force conduct charitable works to help poor Filipinos such as medical, dental and optical missions, disaster relief and gift-giving missions and sports and cultural development.

This time, the PNP leadership is pushing for more programs that will really benefit members of the police force and their families particularly in providing assistance to sick policemen.