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Task force to deploy cops to barangays to 'supervise' quarantine enforcement

July 23, 2020 | 3:01pm

Task force to deploy cops to barangays to 'supervise' quarantine enforcement

Police seen at lockdown Galicia Street in Bangkulasi Navotas last July 14, 2020. The street was lockdown since July 10 until 23 due to 32 covid cases. Their lockdown will be extended as whole Navotas will undergo 14 day lockdown starting July 16-29.

The STAR / Michael Varcas

MANILA, Philippines — Each barangay will have a designated police officer to supervise the enforcement of quarantine rules upon the orders of the government's quarantine enforcement task force.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said that this would assist in the enforcement of President Rodrigo Duterte’s order for mandatory wearing of face masks and the observance of physical distancing because it would "compel" citizens to comply.

Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the task force, said the police supervisor assigned to each barangay will act as the "team leader of the barangay security officers" and tanods in the enforcement of the minimum health safety protocols at the community level.

“The presence of policemen is not only a proven crime deterrent but also compels civilians to behave. In this time of pandemic when compliance to the minimum health safety protocols is a must to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we need to make the presence of the police in the barangay to ensure that the order of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is enforced properly and strictly,” said Eleazar.

In case there are not enough police officers to deploy, Eleazar said, barangays could be grouped into clusters or the national police could receive additional augmentation from the military.

Duterte earlier ordered for a stricter enforcement of government measures to contain the spread of the new pathogen due to the sharp rise in the number of infections logged per day since general community quarantine was implemented.

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At the chief executive's late presser on Tuesday morning, he also ordered law enforcement personnel to "have no qualms" arresting quarantine violators, despite earlier saying he "hates" giving out such orders and the already congested state of the country's jails.

Based on the complaints and reports being received by the JTF COVID Shield, "local residents have started being complacent on the health safety protocols since the quarantine restrictions were eased in almost all part of the country."

"Residents at the barangay level have been reportedly shunning the use of face mask and have started converging again for a drinking session and even for gossiping," the task force added in its statement.

Deflecting the blame of lapses in decision making to the public's supposed lack of discipline in following quarantine rules has long been a pattern of behavior among government officials despite data and surveys showing otherwise.

While data from the task force indeed shows a significant drop in quarantine violations after special forces are deployed and police visibility was intensified, cases of police personnel violating protocols piled up quickly over Metro Manila's own enhanced community quarantine.

Eleazar said the designation would "assure regular [police] presence in the barangays, which would eventually compel local residents to behave."

He said he is now coordinating with the interior department, under which the national police is an attached agency, for the cooperation of the barangay officials in a more active participation of policemen in their respective areas to enforce the quarantine rules.

Government agencies are already looking at tapping barangay watchmen and the city and municipality’s Public Order and Safety personnel in enforcing the quarantine rules, which Eleazar said is part of its the ‘whole-of-government’ approach against the new pathogen.

“Enforcement of minimum health safety protocols at the community level is essential in our fight against the COVID-19. As health experts said, we should always assume that the people we are talking to and cross paths with are virus carriers so wearing of face masks and physical distancing is really an integral part in our goal of defeating the coronavirus,” said Eleazar.

“This fight must be brought to the community level and the best way to do it is to make the presence of the police felt in every barangay, especially in areas where coronavirus infection is high,” he added.

In earlier interviews with Philstar.com, rights monitors Human Rights Watch and Karapatan said that the trends towards intensified enforcement on the barangay level leave the door open for more instances of police abuse in the wake of existing cases over the quarantine and the implementation of the Anti-Terror Bill.

Lawmakers and groups across a multitude of sectors both local and international have already pointed out time and again that the Philippine government's militaristic response did little to empower citizens and actually dent the coronavirus pandemic.