Personnel of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) will donate half of their rice allowance for January to the families affected by the eruption of Taal Volcano.

Col. Romeo Baleros, provincial police director, encouraged the lawmen to donate not as a mandatory duty, but as a response to his appeal to help his hometown of Taal in Batangas.

“I want us to help, without force or intimidation. It’s better to give than to receive,” Baleros said during the flag-raising rites held at the Kanlaon Hall of the provincial headquarters here on Monday.

Police officers receive a monthly allowance of PHP650, or equivalent to 20 kilos of rice.

For the donation, 50 percent or PHP325 will be collected by the NOCPPO Finance Section from 1,971 personnel in the provincial headquarters and the 31 municipal and city police stations of the province.

Baleros said Taal is one of the worst-affected towns during the eruption on January 12.

“Napakahirap ng buhay ngayon doon. Ayokong umuwi, hindi rin naman ako makakapasok sa bayan namin kasi may nakaharang na mga pulis (Life is difficult there. I will not go home since I cannot enter my town because policemen are guarding the area),” Baleros said.

Instead, the NOCPPO chief said he has asked a group of people in his town to inform him about the situation in the evacuation centers.

Baleros added that he has directed the chiefs of police in the province to accept donations in kind.

The donations that will be coursed through the NOCPPO will be brought directly to the affected barangays and distributed by the village chiefs, he said.

The provinces of Batangas and Cavite are now under a state of calamity due to the eruption of Taal Volcano.

Philippine National Police chief Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa has ordered a standby or more or less 10,240 cops to assist residents in the event of another Taal Volcano eruption. (PNA)