MANILA, Philippines — The quarantine enforcement arm of the government's coronavirus task force appealed for local governments to pass more robust ordinances mandating the wearing of face masks and observing physical distancing, which it said would strengthen the "fight" against the coronavirus.
In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, said that similar ordinances would "empower the LGU enforcers that include barangay security officers (barangay tanod) and members of the LGUs’ Public Order and Safety to help the government" in preventing the spread of the new pathogen.
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“The reality is that we continue to live under the threat of COVID-19 and experts said it will take months or even years before a vaccine is developed and made available to the public. Therefore the most that we could do now is to take the preventive side and let us do it down to the barangay level,” said Eleazar.
Local ordinances recently caught the eye of JTF CV Shield leadership as Eleazar highlighted the need to sustain the enforcement of the quarantine rules, particularly in areas under community quarantines.
He added, though, that "based on observations and even on social media posts, some people in GCQ and MGCQ areas have started being complacent on quarantine rules."
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Over the coronavirus pandemic, government officials have constantly deflected the blame of lapses in decision making to the public's supposed "failures" and lack of "discipline" in following quarantine rules despite data showing otherwise.
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As it stands, all signs point to the task force clamping down further on violators of health protocols on the local government level as authorities under the task force have said they were looking at "discipline-based" ordinances as a "tool" to detain violators of quarantine rules.
On Friday, elements of the Quezon City Police District along with the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety staged a "One Time, Big Time" operation and apprehended over 1,000 violators who were brought to the Amoranto Stadium for "process[ing] for proper disposition."
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Eleazar in his statement said that law enforcement agencies did not have enough manpower "to guard the entire country" and enforce the minimum health safety protocols, adding that barangay and LGU personnel have been proven to be effective partners who "could be utilized to shield their respective communities from the coronavirus infection."
“This is the part when enforcement should be beefed up in order to remind and warn people that the threat of coronavirus infection is still there, and this is where LGUs play a key role especially at the barangay level,” said Eleazar.
“But still, we need more manpower to on the preventive part in the fight against COVID-19, thus, we certainly need the help of the LGUs on this aspect,” he added.
This is corroborated by a separate memorandum by the PNP's Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies dated July 8 which reads: "All Private Security Personnel (PSP), being the PNP's Force Multipliers are once again called on to provide assistance to the PNP by immediately reporting crime incidents and assist in the maintenance of peace and order within their respective areas of responsibilities."
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"[It] is imperative that the laws and locals ordinances are strictly enforced to prevent the occurrence of common street crimes and prevent chaos wherein threat groups and criminal elements may take advantage of the situation and carry out their criminal intents and illegal activities," Police Col. Sidney Villaflor, acting SOSIA chief, said in the memorandum.
In late April, a village watchman was caught on camera beating up a fish vendor with a stick after the latter was caught without a face mask and a quarantine pass. The video of the incident went viral on social media, while only one of the four tanods involved has since been removed from service by the Quezon City local government.
The joint task force in an earlier statement said it was looking at tightening enforcement of local ordinances—including bans on loitering, drinking and smoking—to further clamp down on quarantine violators.
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Eleazar in the same statement pointed to the government's 2018 crackdown on loitering—during which he served as chief of Metro Manila police—when 8,000 people were arrested without warrant as part of a "crime prevention program."
Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch said at the time: “The Philippine National Police are again demonstrating their preference for wielding fear, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest to target vulnerable communities rather than respect for the rule of law."
Police Gen. Archie Gamboa, the chief of the PNP, "has already given a go-signal for the strict implementation of the local ordinances through a memorandum," Eleazar said.
With the signing of the Anti-Terror Bill—which authorizes the warrantless detention of people suspected of being terrorists for up to 24 days without formal charges—that the same kind of crackdown could happen again is a possibility with rights violations caused by heavy-handed law enforcement already well-documented.
“What we can assure the public is that the PNP, the military, and the Philippine Coast Guard are doing their best to secure the control points for land, air and sea against COVID-19,” said Eleazar.
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