Camp Olivas, Pampanga—Daily operational routines of the Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) were temporarily suspended from Aug. 1 to 4 to pave the way for a massive disinfection at the main headquarters building after 18 policemen and a civilian employee tested positive of coronavirus following swab tests over the weekend.
Police BGen. Rhodel O. Sermonia, director of the Central Luzon Philippine National Police, ordered the isolation of contracted policemen and placed them under strict quarantine while initiating contact-tracing to identify those who associated with the lawmen at the regional police headquarters.
“Camp Olivas is undergoing disinfection and it is on lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus. All entry gates have been closed. Nobody is allowed to go in and out except for essential purposes,” said a duty police sergeant at the main gate, adding transactions will resume on August 5.
The main headquarters building houses the regional director office, human resources and personnel, intelligence division, operations, logistics, community relations, investigation, and comptroller offices.
“Our personnel including the civilian who have tested positive are now placed on strict quarantine and monitoring and are immediately transferred to our quarantine facility. We are also establishing the contact tracing including all our Police and Non-uniformed personnel inside the camp as well as the families of those infected,” said Sermonia in a statement.
He said continuous swab testing is being carried out by the Regional Health Service (RHS) to personnel who are suspected to be infected with the virus.
PRO3 has more than 2,000 personnel spread to different units within the main regional headquarters including non-support units such as the RHS, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Highway Patrol Group, and Cyber-Crime Group.
“Every office inside Camp Olivas was directed to conduct disinfection,” police sources told the Standard, blaming guests from Manila and other areas in Luzon as probable carriers of coronavirus during various activities in the past weeks.
Last month, 22 policemen who were dispatched in Angeles City Police Office for on-the-job training also tested positive of coronavirus. They were quarantined at the ASEAN Convention Center inside Clark Freeport.
