Eleazar urges local police to be stricter in control points

April 8, 2020

As number of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) violators exceeds 90,000, Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CoViD Shield) on Wednesday lauded local police  but reminded them to be stricter especially after Dedicated Control Points (DCPs) were established.

Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar,JTF CoViD Shield Commander, said during his inspections on Quarantine Control Points (QCPs), he noticed some personnel are lenient in checking not only non-cargo vehicles but also those unauthorized persons to go out.

Eleazar reminded law enforcers manning the control points not to lower their guard against persons who are not authorized to go out and travel.

This followed reports that home quarantine rules are not strictly enforced in someQCPs  manned and supervised by local police forces and  mostly near boundaries of towns and cities.

“I have also noticed during our inspections with the Director of the Highway Patrol Group (Police Brigadier General Eliseo Cruz) that some of our QCPs are becoming lenient in checking non-cargo vehicles for the unauthorized persons outside residence,” he said.

“There are some (unauthorized persons) who are openly staying out of their residence because they are not being cautioned, particularly those in non-cargo vehicles. Let’s guard them so that they will not get used to it,” he added.

Based on the JTF CoViD Shield data from March 17 to April 7, a total of 93,242 violators were accosted across the country.

Around 70.8 percent, or 66,063 people, were just warned not to repeat the offense.

It added more than half of those accosted were from Luzon with 53,049 violators, where the ECQ is being implemented until April 30.

A total of 17,380 violators were from the Visayas while 22,813 were in Mindanao.

Eleazar said a total of 4,392 were fined; 4,523 were charged while 18,264 are set to be slapped with appropriate charges.

Eleazar lauded the local police forces across the country for conducting aggressive operations against violators of home quarantine rules.

Eleazar said the extension of ECQ up to April 30, as recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte, is proof that the threat of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains serious. Ella Dionisio/DMS