PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar has ordered the relief of a station commander of the Quezon City Police District who deployed cops still waiting for the results of their swab tests to President Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address last Monday, a breach of COVID-19 protocol.
Eleazar said he ordered the relief of Lt. Col. Cristine Tabdi for command responsibility pending the conduct of a thorough investigation.
“In view of the apparent breach of protocol when most of these PNP personnel were deployed for SONA duties even if they were still waiting for their RT-PCR results, I have already ordered the administrative relief of the Station Commander, Police Station 3 of the QCPD, for command responsibility,” said Eleazar.
“This should serve as a reminder to all our commanders to exercise prudence and to strictly abide with our existing protocols amid the serious threat of COVID-19, especially with the rising number of infections from the Delta variant,” he added.
Citing initial investigation, Eleazar said 152 of the 184 personnel of the QCPD-Station 3 underwent swab tests last July 23 as part of the regular testing by the Quezon City government.
Eleazar said 118 of the 152 who underwent the tests were deployed to secure Duterte’s SONA. Overall, the PNP deployed over 11,000 policemen to secure the event.
The results of the policemen’s tests came out last Tuesday and Wednesday and showed 82 were infected although they were asymptomatic. Of the 82, Eleazar said 68 were fully vaccinated.
The Department of Health scored the QCPD over the breach of COVID protocols, saying it is possible the deployment of cops positive for the deadly virus could turn into a super-spreader event.
“There was a breach of protocol because we have guidelines for that and we all know that they shouldn’t have been deployed if the results are not yet known,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.
She said those who believe they may have come into contact with the cops should immediately coordinate with their respective local government units.
Vergeire added it is now necessary to conduct contact tracing.
“Contact tracing is always important. It cannot be delayed because even just one day of failing to find the contacts can lead to more infection. Contact tracing should be immediately done by LGUs so we can break chain of transmission,” said Vergeire.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque yesterday said investigations are underway to determine who should be held accountable, if any, for the deployment of cops positive for the deadly virus last Monday.
Eleazar said the policemen should have not been deployed to secure the SONA because they were still waiting for the results of their tests.
Eleazar said reports showed the policemen were in close contact with rallyists during the SONA but said this will be verified in the investigation they are conducting.
Eleazar said contact tracing efforts are ongoing to trace the people who have been in close contact with the infected policemen. He added they are also determining how the cops contracted the virus.
The 82 policemen were admitted to the Quezon City government Hope facilities, a quarantine facility.
Eleazar said there is still no information if the cops have been infected with the more contagious Delta variant and appealed to the public to stop speculating the policemen may have gotten the Delta variant.
“Your PNP has long prepared for all worse-case scenarios like this, which include aggressive vaccination and preparing for more isolation and medical facilities, so we assure the relatives of those who were infected and also our kababayan of full attention and care for our personnel,” said Eleazar.
“Right now, our focus is to ensure that all of our personnel who were infected receive their necessary medical needs and continue our aggressive contact-tracing and testing,” he said. — With Gerard Naval and Jocelyn Montemayor
