DILG to file raps vs abusive LGU, barangay execs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has warned that charges will be filed against local executives and barangay officials found extorting fees for quarantine passes for residents and cargo deliveries at checkpoints. 

DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said they have received reports that some officials are selling quarantine passes, and even asking money from truck deliveries with Luzon under enhanced community quarantine. 

Malaya noted that the quarantine pass is not technically included in the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) but a measure by local government units (LGUs) to localize and implement the guidelines. 

“It’s not bad, per se, but is illegal when sold, and the barangay quarantine pass is stricter than the one released by the President,” the department spokesman said in Filipino in a radio interview yesterday. 

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, and even President Duterte himself reprimanded LGUs that issued strict measures that have hampered the movement of cargo and other goods in their localities, even if they do not have the authority to do so.

Año warned that these abusive officials who are taking advantage of the public health crisis will be suspended or be placed behind bars.

He said that any official found guilty of these acts will be sanctioned, from governor down to the barangay level.

Malaya advised barangay officials to go directly to their city or municipal mayors if they face a lack of funds instead of resorting to extortion activities.

The IATF yesterday called on local governments to inform the Department of Health (DOH) about their plans to acquire testing kits for COVID-19.

“All LGUs must first coordinate with DOH prior to acquiring, purchasing or utilizing testing kits within their respective territorial jurisdictions,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a televised press briefing, citing an amended IATF resolution.

Officials had admitted that the limited number of test kits may have caused the unintentional underreporting of COVID-19 cases.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had given assurance that the Philippines would have enough testing kits during the entire duration of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. The lockdown will end on April 13.

The health chief said 500 testing kits from South Korea were delivered last Friday and about 5,000 to 10,000 units more are expected to arrive in the coming days. The DOH has also received 2,000 testing kits from China.

The DOH-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) has to validate the accuracy of testing kits before these are used, Nograles said. 

Also, Duque said that due to potential hazards of processing swab samples, only laboratories where processes have been quality-assured or certified by the DOH-RITM are allowed to process Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction-based test kits.

“Private hospitals  and laboratories and university-based laboratories shall undergo DOH-RITM assessment before being allowed to process any sample regardless of  Food and Drug Administration status of the test kits,” Duque said in a memorandum circular.­ – With Mayen Jaymalin, Alexis Romero