(PNA photo by Joey Razon)
MANILA – A total of 3,275 persons were apprehended for various violations at the start of the 15-day modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and nearby areas, the Joint Task Force Covid Shield said Wednesday.
In a statement, task force commander, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said that out of this number, 2,173 were fined, 831 arrested, and 271 warned.
On Sunday night, President Rodrigo Duterte reverted Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal from August 4 o 18.
This brings the number of community quarantine violators in the country to 293,175 since mid-March.
With the latest data, the task force said most of the violators were from Luzon numbering 175,690, while 63,800 are from the Visayas and 53,685 are from Mindanao.
To ensure that all the health protocols under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) are observed, Eleazar has ordered all police chiefs in Metro Manila and four adjacent provinces to intensify their visibility in public markets and other places of convergence.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) director for operations, Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Luis Licup, reiterated the instruction to the police commanders to mobilize the barangay tanods (village watchmen) and the city and municipal Public Order and Safety personnel to augment the police force in the conduct of regular patrols.
Eleazar said barangay watchmen and Public Order and Safety personnel of the LGUs are essential force multipliers in the enforcement of quarantine rules since policemen could not cover the entire Metro Manila and the nearby four provinces.
“We are all into this, in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). The national government and the local government units (LGUs) should work together in reducing the coronavirus infection rate to a significant level. Otherwise, the intent of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s approval of MECQ in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite would be futile,” he said.
Eleazar added that visibility of both the police and LGU enforcers is important in compelling the people to act and conform to the minimum health safety standard protocol that includes wearing of face masks, observance of proper physical distancing, and prohibition of mass gatherings.
This came as some people and business establishments continue to violate the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on the first day of the re-implementation of the MECQ.
“This kind of behavior under a pandemic situation should not be tolerated and must immediately be addressed because they are not only compromising their health safety but also their respective families and people in their communities until it would become an additional burden to our medical health workers and eventually to the government,” said Eleazar. (PNA)
