They are frontliners, too.
On this note, Sen. Panfilo Lacson pushed Tuesday for the restoration of the Quick Response Fund particularly for the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection.
In his interpellation of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s 2021 budget, Lacson lamented both agencies have not had any QRF since 2017.
“With your consent and the consent of our colleagues Mr. President, I will introduce that amendment to restore the QRF specifically for the PNP and BFP,” said Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001.
In seeking the restoration of the QRF of the PNP and BFP, he noted that “these are the frontliners, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He also questioned why there is no budget for the QRF for 2021, noting there was such a budget in the 2016 budget – P75 million for the PNP and P75 million for BFP.
For his part, Senate finance committee chairman Juan Edgardo Angara said the PNP would need around P125 million, and the BFP would need some P75 million for 2021.
Angara also explained there was an appropriation in 2015 but the PNP said it was never released as the “requirements were quite stringent.
In seeking the restoration of the QRF, Lacson cited instances of PNP personnel responding to calamities.
“In Taal for example I heard at least six of their personnel got afflicted with some disease sa lungs because of the sulfur,” he said.
On the other hand, Angara said the PNP and BFP make do sometimes by making requests with the NDRRMC but the review and processing of requests takes time.
“They would appreciate very much if the body were to augment these funds,” he said.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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