Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31) — Members of the Philippine National Police were told to ensure that no barangay checkpoints are still set up along major roads across the country to prevent the delay in the transport of basic goods during the enhanced community quarantine.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield, said it was Interior Secretary Eduardo Año who ordered the removal of barangay checkpoints amid complaints of varying rules and regulations being implemented by local government units.
Only PNP checkpoints are allowed in national highways and provincial roads, and only policemen are allowed to inspect cargo trucks passing along major thoroughfares.
Eleazar said barangay checkpoints will only be allowed on interior roads if there is prior coordination with the local police station and if these barangay checkpoints will be supervised by the local police.
The existence of barangay checkpoints along national highways and provincial roads in the past has delayed delivery of basic commodities and also caused confusion among those who were exempted from the home quarantine.
Some barangays also allegedly implemented regulations not consistent with guidelines issued by the task force, Eleazar said.
“Some of these barangay checkpoints are implementing their own rules which are clearly in defiance of the IATF guidelines. We in the JTF CV Shield have been receiving similar complaints from cargo owners and drivers and even from people who are supposed to be exempted from home quarantine but were being barred in barangay checkpoints,” said Eleazar.
While the enhanced community quarantine is only Luzon-wide, the order to dismantle barangay checkpoints along national highways and provincial roads also applies to Visayas and Mindanao. Some local government units have already imposed their own lockdowns.
Eleazar added that he had already coordinated with PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa for the full implementation of the order.
The JTF CV Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases which addresses the virus outbreak in the country. It is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
The country now has 1,546 COVID-19 cases, with 78 deaths, and 42 recoveries from the infection to date.
