They have been very busy helping other people amid the damage wrought by tropical storm “Ondoy” on their own homes. The time has come to fix or rebuild their own homes.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) started on Monday recalling some of its personnel who were earlier deployed to conduct rescue and relief operations in areas devastated by flooding at the height of tropical storm “Ondoy” last month.

Director Leopoldo Bataoil, acting PNP spokesman, said policemen living in flood-ravaged areas in Pasig, Cainta, and Marikina were prioritized in the pullout in order for them to fix the damage brought by “Ondoy” to their respective houses which they could not do earlier as all leaves or absences in the PNP had been canceled to enable the police to focus on assisting millions of people affected and displaced by flooding.

“Now is the time for them to go home, rebuild their houses that were destroyed by that weather disturbance and to take a very much needed break with their family,” Bataoil told reporters in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

He said this was because the full alert status that was hoisted over the entire Luzon on Sept. 26 had been lowered to heightened alert in Metro Manila and in the provinces in the southern part of Luzon.

Only the provinces in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Cordillera Administrative Region remain under full alert status due to the threat still posed by typhoon “Pepeng” and a new weather disturbance spotted by weather experts which could also hit northern Luzon.

It was recalled that hundreds of policemen whose homes have also been devastated by floods were not allowed to go home as they were ordered to prioritize the relief and rescue operations in “Ondoy” affected areas.

Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, commander of the Police Community Relations Group, said although they have no figure on the number of policemen who were displaced because of the floods, he said he has received reports that most of those who joined the relief and rescue efforts were also victims of the calamity.

In Marikina City for instance, some 90 percent of the policemen were affected by the flooding. Hundreds of policemen residing in Karangalan Village in Cainta, Rizal were also reportedly hit by the flood.