BY AARON RECUENCO
The national government’s enforcement arm for implementation of quarantine rules prefers community service and payment of fines as penalties for the violators of curfew and minimum health safety standard protocols.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, said detaining violators of the quarantine rules only put them at risk of infection especially if they are jailed in cramped jail facilities.
But he said detention and filing of charges could be the last resort especially if the violators are unruly and disrespectful of the law enforcers, or repeat offenders.
“Almost all of the barangays and Local Government Units (LGUs) have no detention facilities so the tendency is to turn over those who would be arrested to the local police. As part of the decongestion measures of police detention facilities, it is advisable that violators are punished by community service or payment of fine as sanctions,” said Eleazar. (Aaron Recuenco)
