About 3,000 soldiers from the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region will augment 40,000 policemen tasked to ensure the orderly implementation of the community quarantine in Metro Manila effective midnight last night.
Brig. Gen. Alex Luna, commander of JTF-NCR, called for the public’s cooperation to ensure the smooth flow of checkpoints which will be setup in strategic areas in borders of Metro Manila and nearby provinces to restrict the movement of people, and possibly, prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease-2019.
“It’s a way for us to really check how we could cooperate with each other para maging successful itong community quarantine,” he said.
Luna said that motorists outside Metro Manila who will enter or exit the region have to anticipate heavy traffic caused by the strict protocols in checkpoints.
He explained that every public and private vehicle will have to be checked and disinfected before they are allowed entry or exit. Individuals who will be allowed to enter or leave Metro Manila will have to undergo stringent screening measures, including thermal scanning.
“Bear with us, we are really doing everything at pinag-aaralan ng mga tao kung paano mapapaiksi ‘yung daanan ng checkpoint,” Luna said.
Aside from checkpoints in major radial and circumferential roads, sea lanes and airports will also be guarded by the military.
“’Yung internal ng Metro Manila will be purely NCRPO activity. The checkpoint boreders – land, sea, and air – we will combine with the Philippine Coast Guard and Aviation Security Group of the PNP,” he said.
Luna admitted that it would be the first time for the military to enforce a measure like the community quarantine.
“This is a really big task for us, bago lang po ito. Even sa military, I think we have not yet conducted any activity like this although we have simulation exercises, table top exercises we haven’t really used it on the ground,” Luna said.
The community quarantine will end April 14 unless the Inter-Agency Task Force on Managing Emerging Infectious Diseases recommends to President Duterte that it be extended or terminated ahead of the schedule.
COOPERATION SOUGHT
The Philippine National Police yesterday appealed for cooperation in the implementation of the community quarantine.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for operations, urged people to stop making excuses to enable them to skirt precautionary and preventive measures against the spread of COVID-2019.
Eleazar assured that authorities respect human rights in the implementation of the quarantine.
“Wala tayong nilalabag na karapatang pangtao. In fact, ginagawa natin ito para sa karapatan nating mabuhay,” said Eleazar.
“So we are appealing to everybody to cooperate. Metro Manila has been declared as a community quarantine place and it means for people here to stay at home as much as possible and for outsiders not to enter if they have no business to be here,” he added.
Protocol that the PNP helped draft said that those living in Metro Manila will only be allowed to enter if they work in any part of the metropolis, if they have to deliver basic necessities, or if they are members of medical teams or response teams of the government and the private sector.
Eleazar said they will only be allowed to enter if they present a company identification card and possibly other documents that would prove their presence here in Metro Manila is a necessity.
“There’s no work stoppage order so people living outside Metro Manila will still be allowed entry,” said Eleazar.
Eleazar encouraged those living within Metro Manila to just stay at home since their movement from their place of residence to any part of the metropolis will also be checked.
He said the PNP is in charge of checkpoints, regular patrolling, and implementation of curfew. They will be augmented by personnel from the military, PCG, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and even the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Despite the stricter measures, Eleazar said that there is no lockdown order for Metro Manila.
“This is not a total lockdown. In fact, this goes with the appeal to the people to stay at their houses as much as possible and cooperate with the security and safety measures because what is at stake here is public health,” said Eleazar. (Martin Sadongdong and Aaron Recuenco)