PNP deputy chief for operations, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar. (File photo)
MANILA – Parents must serve as role models for their children in complying with enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) rules, the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) said Tuesday.
“Better yet, parents should become the role model for their children in following home quarantine, social distancing and other safety measures for the protection of the entire family,” JTF CV Shield commander, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said in a statement.
This came as PNP chief, Gen. Archie Gamboa, said there will be no more warnings and quarantine violators will be immediately arrested.
“Our SILG (Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Eduardo Año) and our Chief PNP has already instructed our police commanders to immediately arrest and charge those curfew violators in order to teach them a lesson about following the rules and regulations on ECQ. We expect substantial compliance to the directives of the SILG and the Chief PNP,” he added.
A total of 150,085 curfew violators were recorded to have violated the home quarantine since the Luzon-wide ECQ was implemented on March 17.
Eleazar said most of those who were recently warned were minors and senior citizens.
The rest were people who were allowed to go for humanitarian consideration especially during the early days of the implementation of the ECQ.
Eleazar said police commanders were already instructed to coordinate with the local government units, especially with the barangay officials, on imposing possible sanctions on parents of minors who would violate the home quarantine.
“We cannot arrest minors because that’s what the law states, all we could do is to warn them. But in this extraordinary time that demand full compliance of home quarantine rule, we will pass the obligation to the parents to keep their children at home,” Eleazar said.
The JTF CV Shield earlier noted a significant decline in the number of violators following the deployment of Special Action Force (SAF) commandos, Highway Patrol Group (HPG) personnel, and soldiers onboard armored personnel carriers in areas where violations of home quarantine are prevalent.
From 3,314 ECQ violators recorded on April 21 or the day of the deployment, the figure started to go down and saw a steep decline two days later -- from 3,036 on April 22 to only 1,585 on April 23.
Since then, the number of violators did not breach the 2,000 mark.
The latest data showed as of April 24, some 234 people were warned due to the limitations of the law and humanitarian considerations.
The JTF CV Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID). It is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
It is currently waiting for specific guidelines that would be implemented for the areas that would be under the ECQ extension until May 15 and in areas under a General Community Quarantine (GCQ) beginning May 1.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier thanked Filipinos for observing protocols under the ECQ following the PNP's report that the number of quarantine violators has dropped by 45 percent. (PNA)
