Task force warns persons with quarantine passes not to abuse them

August 10, 2020

The Joint Task Force COVID Shield on Monday warned all Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs) that they may only put themselves at risk of infection or legal consequences if they would abuse and not use responsibly their community quarantine exemption.

Police Lt. General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, JTF commander, said home quarantine and travel exemptions given to APORs are intended for them to work since their jobs are considered essential in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to assist in delivering basic needs of the people who are staying at their homes.

“The exemption given to them to travel outside their communities is clearly work-related, therefore , their travel is limited to their places of work and back to their houses. This exemption must not be used for side-tripping and other non-essential travels, especially in Metro Manila other areas currently under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ),” Eleazar said.

He said APORs can also maximize their exemption bytravel by buying food and other essential products for their family in business establishments near their places of work or near their homes, or even those along the routes they pass by on their way to work or back home.

He added they advised policemen manning checkpoints to scrutinize home  and office address of the APORs passing the Quarantine Control Points where persons can barred if they are not going to their office, except they are able to justify the diversion of his travel from home to work and vice versa.

APORs are allowed to go out and travel under the condition their jobs are considered essential or jobs are connected with business establishments and industries permitted to operate by the government.

Some APORs were issued identification cards by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) while some are allowed to present their company identification cards and other documents that serve as a proof of employment.

“If their explanation is not believable, either they will not be allowed to pass through QCPs or they will be penalized for violating the quarantine rules,” Eleazar said.

“If we are able to restrict their movement only to the areas where they should be, this will be of big help in reducing the unnecessary movement of the people and eventually lessen the possibility of transmission of the virus,” he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS