The increasing number of curfew violators and the activation of the online inquest proceedings of the Department of Justice have prompted the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) to reconsider its decision to arrest and detain violators of home quarantine rules.
The JTF CV Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. It is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, JTF CV Shield commander and the PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, said they also received appeals from local government units (LGUs) through the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) not to be lenient on curfew violators, citing their own hardships in convincing their constituents to follow the enhanced community quarantine guidelines.
During the “Laging Handa” briefing on March 28, Eleazar said they decided to be a little lenient against curfew violators by allowing them to go home after booking them instead of detaining them until they posted bail, out of compassion and the lack of suitable jail facilities as well as government prosecutors that would attend to the cases that would be filed since the DOJ is only manned by limited number of personnel.
The agreement was that the names and circumstances of the arrest would be documented and that the charges would later be pursued after the enhanced community quarantine is lifted and the situation normalizes.
But following the appeals and reports of the LGUs, the JTF CV Shield verified the information from police commanders on the ground and found out that there were a total of 42,826 apprehended curfew violators in the first 11 days of the enhanced community quarantine, or from March 17 up to March 27.
Of the figure, 12,094 of them were from Metro Manila.
It was recalled that while the enhanced community quarantine is only in Luzon, a number of LGUs in the Visayas and Mindanao have already implemented their own lockdowns to protect their constituents from the spread of the coronavirus disease.
“Just imagine if, shall we say a quarter of these violators are already virus carriers, they will not only endanger the health and the lives of our policemen and other people manning the quarantine control points but also the health workers and other frontliners who are exempted from the quarantine,” Eleazar said.
“Based on our assessment, the number of curfew violators will just continue to rise if we become lenient on them. This will definitely defeat the purpose of the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine, which President Duterte approved purposely to contain the Covid-19,” he added.
As such, Eleazar said that the arrest and filing of cases against curfew violators would continue.
He said all the arrested violators will be taken to the nearest police stations for investigation and filing of cases.
As to the filing of the charges against curfew violators, Eleazar said that the consultation with Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra through DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año revealed the existence of the “e-inquest” project of the Justice Department, which allows the conduct of a virtual inquest proceedings using any online platform for video calls and conferences and all available electronic communications.
Eleazar said that the DOJ has already issued general rules on procedures for the conduct of e-inquest to the government prosecutors across the country.
In the absence of Internet connections or online facilities in the police stations, Eleazar said the regular direct filing will be accomplished by police investigators.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Air Force ferried off via a C-130 cargo plane on Saturday the second batch of medical supplies into the country from Fuzhou, China.
A Filipino-Chinese donated the supplies to the Philippine government, which consist of Covid-19 test-kit PCR (polymerase chain reaction) real time quantitative thermal cycler, protective suit (sterile and non-sterile), camsterile gloves, face masks, protective goggles, face shield, diagnostic kit, cell preservation fluid, tube strip, swap and S1014 kit.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) has also began distributing personal protective equipment suits, face masks, and boxes of bottled water it had procured to assist various hospitals amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agency provided 5,000 surgical masks each to the East Avenue Medical Center and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, while 500 n95 masks were delivered to the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila