By AARON RECUENCO
More than 42,000 curfew violators have been arrested in the first 11 days of the enhanced community quarantine, prompting the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) to reconsider the government’s earlier decision to be lenient on them.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the JTF CV Shield and deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police, said they expect the number of violators to continue increasing if stricter measures will not be implemented and those who defy the quarantine would not be punished.
PNP data showed that 42,826 curfew violators were arrested from March 17 to 27 across the country, 12,904 of them in Metro Manila.
“Just imagine if, shall we say, a quarter of these violators are already virus carriers, they will not only endanger the health and the lives of our policemen and other people manning the quarantine control points but also the health workers and other fron tliners who are exempted from the quarantine,” said Eleazar.
“Based on our assessment, the number of curfew violators will just continue to rise if we become lenient on them. This will definitely defeat the purpose of the declaration of the Enhanced Community Quarantine which President Duterte approved purposely to contain the COVID-19,” he added.
The government had earlier decided to be lenient on curfew violators out of compassion and amid the lack of government lawyers who would process the charges that would be leveled against them.
But Eleazar said the JTF CV Shield, through the Department of the Interior and Local Government, received appeals from local officials not to be lenient, explaining the hardships they encounter in convincing their constituents to stay at home.
“Our message to the public is clear, we will continue to arrest any person who will violate the curfew,” said Eleazar.
Eleazar said they are aware of the lack of government prosecutors and the need to implement social distancing in a bid to teach curfew violators a lesson.
To address this, Eleazar said DILG Secretary Eduardo Año has coordinated with Justice Secretary Menardo Gueverra to facilitate the filing of the cases against them.
“The Department of Justice has activated its online inquest proceedings or its e-inquest for this purpose,” said Eleazar.
The e-inquest project of the DoJ is a virtual inquest proceeding using any online platform for video calls and conferences and all available electronic communications.
“The DoJ has already issued general rules on procedures for the conduct of e-inquest to the government prosecutors across the country,” said Eleazar.
But in the absence of Internet connections or online facilities in the police stations, he said the regular direct filing will be done by the police investigators.