Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 9) — The Department of the Interior and Local Government has directed the Philippine National Police to deploy more law enforcers in areas that have recently recorded a spike in cases to ensure people’s compliance with minimum health standards.
DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a briefing on Tuesday that around 180 more police officers were deployed in Pasay City, which was tagged by the OCTA Research Group last week as a COVID-19 hotspot after recording 128 new cases from Feb. 26 to March 4.
OCTA said it was the highest average of daily cases reported in the city, even higher compared to the number of infections during a surge in August 2020.
“Nag-utos po si [DILG] OIC [Bernardo] Florece ng crackdown sa mga nagba-violate ng minimum health standards,” Malaya said, adding that more police officers will be also be assigned to Malabon and Navotas, which have also seen a spike in cases.
[Translation: OIC Florece has ordered a crackdown on violators of minimum health standards.]
The DILG expects the local governments to “strictly” enforce ordinances that penalize violators of COVID-19 protocols, Malaya said. He also urged LGUs that have yet to enact ordinances against health protocol violators to impose sanctions on those who fail to follow the safety measures so arrests will not be rendered useless.
“Kailangan na po nating maipasa iyan agad agad para po may basehan ang pagsaway at paghuli sa health [protocol] violators ng ating bansa,” he said.
[We need to pass these ordinances immediately so that there will be a basis in reprimanding and arresting health protocol violators.]
The country now has 600,428 coronavirus cases, with 12,528 deaths and 546,078 recoveries.
