Additional policemen and force multipliers in barangays will be deployed in public markets across the country to ensure strict implementation of social distancing amid reports of violations.
This comes as reports and social media posts show people converging in public markets, violating social distancing rules and other enhanced community quarantine protocols in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, said policemen and other force multipliers would be tasked to implement limited entry and exit points in public markets.
In this way, Eleazar said the number of people entering the public market would be limited and therefore would ensure compliance of social distancing inside.
“There will be monitoring teams composed of policemen, or soldiers that will be augmented by barangay officials, barangay tanods, and other force multipliers to ensure that social distancing is strictly observed inside the public market,” said Eleazar.
He explained that police teams or monitoring teams composed of other law enforcement units and force multipliers will constantly remind and warn people to observe social distancing inside public markets through the use of megaphones.
Eleazar said that other devices such as portable speaker systems could also be used not only to compel but also make people conscious about social distancing rules inside the public markets.
He added that PNP leadership, under PNP chief Police Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa, and Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año have given the go-signal for a stricter implementation of social distancing rules in public markets. (Aaron Recuenco)