MANILA, Philippines — Curfews will be strictly enforced by police commanders in their respective localities from here on out, regardless of the area's quarantine status, the quarantine enforcement arm of the coronavirus task force said Tuesday.
In a statement issued Tuesday morning, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said: "Those who are not considered as authorized persons outside residences (APORs) are advised to stay at home or suffer being accosted, except if their presence outside is considered emergency-related."
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This comes after President Duterte approved Monday night the recommendation of the National Task Force on COVID-19 to place Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, and the cities of Tacloban and Bacolod under general community quarantine for the rest of September.
Within the National Capital Region, most local governments have been implementing a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to lessen unnecessary travels.
READ: PNP: Quarantine checkpoints stay under general community quarantine
The JTF's pronounced tightening of quarantine enforcement continues with its latest move. At the start of the second wave of enhanced community quarantine in early August, police checkpoints were placed in the borders of cities and municipalities first.
This was later extended to include public markets and other places of convergence, while the task force said on Monday that cops would now also be sent to business districts.
“Curfew must be enforced regardless of the existing community quarantine status. Containing the unnecessary movement and gathering of people even within a community is part of the general medical solution against COVID-19 since what we are after is the prevention of the spread of this deadly virus,” said Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, commander of the task force.
Shortened or not, the police general said, members of the task force, which includes the military and the national police, "must make sure that the curfew would be implemented strictly and properly in order to compel the people to behave and follow the quarantine protocols."
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Eleazar, a candidate to land the position of the next PNP chief, added that police commanders must ensure the fair and humane treatment of curfew violators but also urged the public to respect the curfew rules and respect the people enforcing them "in order to prevent unnecessary confrontation."
Throughout the past 168 days of community quarantine, cases of aggressive and overzealous police enforcement of quarantine protocols that led to human rights abuses piled up quickly, though the national police's leadership was quick to defend its ranks in most of these instances.
Asked about these instances in April, Eleazar said: "It takes two to tango."
The task force's data also claims that over 360,000 quarantine violators have been warned, fined, and arrested since March 17, too, which the task force says is proof of Filipinos' "defiance" to quarantine rules and authority.
"One thing is clear, there must be no physical punishment that would be imposed on arrested curfew violators,” Eleazar added.
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