DILG: 'Disiplina' campaign about volunteerism, not enforcement
MANILA, Philippines — The interior department's "BIDA ang May Disiplina" campaign with the health department is not about enforcement, but rather about community volunteerism against the coronavirus pandemic, the department said Thursday.
On Saturday, the Department of Interior and Local Government unveiled the program as an effort to encourage people's participation "by living a life of discipline and earnestly practicing the minimum health standards set by health authorities."
In an email to Philstar.com, department spokesperson Jonathan Malaya clarified that the program—which also encourages local governments to form Disiplina Brigades—involves "not law enforcers but volunteer civilians with no pay whose role is to remind their friends and family that we are all part of the solution."
"It emphasizes the importance of individual self-discipline and behavior change, practiced by the citizens down at the grassroots level, as a means to beat COVID-19 in order to ensure the safety of families and of the nation...Hence, the purpose of the 'BIDA ang May Disiplina' campaign is to encourage the family and the community to take the frontlines and police their own ranks without resorting to law enforcement," Malaya wrote.
"It is a preventive, awareness, and behavioral change campaign [to] encourage family and community participation in the battle against COVID-19 by living a life of discipline and earnestly practicing the minimum health standards set by health authorities," he also said.
In its original statement, the DILG said that Disiplina Brigades formed under the program will include "community members, including barangay tanods, who will remind their neighbors and friends of minimum health standards and call the attention of those who violate health protocols."
DILG disputes survey data
The discipline campaign comes after a Social Weather Stations survey in May that fund that 77% of working-age Filipinos always use a face mask when going out of their homes. Another 64% said they always maintain physical distance—a safe distance of at least one meter from other people—every time they are outside.
In his email, Malaya also said that government agencies "cannot rely on a self-assessment survey data of 1,200 respondents out of 108 million Filipinos as sole basis for government policy." He said that Filipinos might be wearing masks incorrectly.
"We need to base our polices on hard facts and data from the ground. And the data from the PNP Directorate for Operations reveals that from March 17 to August 18, a total of 330,036 persons were apprehended by the PNP for violations of quarantine protocols, 974 were apprehended for profiteering, hoarding and price manipulation, 17,292 PUV drivers for violating the prohibition on mass transportation, while 27,570 motorcycle drivers were apprehended for reckless driving, overloading and unauthorized back-riding," he said.
He added that those numbers do not include "the apprehensions or citations made by LGU and barangay enforcers which also runs into the hundreds of thousands."
Malaya stressed in his email that the 'Disiplina' campaign "is not about law enforcement but about volunteerism, self-discipline and the family and community leaders defending their
place against the pandemic."
Metro Manila, nearby provinces under GCQ
Metro Manila and the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan returned to General Community Quarantine on Wednesday after a two-week "time-out" under modified enhanced community quarantine.
The Philippine National Police, a bureau of the DILG, said Tuesday that control measures put up under MECQ will remain in place.
In a statement, Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson said: "These include the setting up of Quarantine Control Points to ensure that only authorized individuals on essential travel are allowed outside their homes and to enforce restrictions on certain modes of public conveyance."
Joint Task Force COVID Shield, the quarantine enforcement arm of the government, has deployed police officers in every barangay to serve as "quarantine rules supervisors."
The PNP has also called on private security agencies and barangay tanods to assist them in enforcement.
"We appeal to residents in affected communities to cooperate with local government and law enforcement authorities in enforcing quarantine rules and health protocols to further minimize transmission of the infection," the national police said Tuesday. — Franco Luna
- Latest
- Trending
