DILG supports community service for quarantine violators — spokesperson
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government is in support of the justice department's proposal to impose community service on “quarantine violations” instead of imprisonment.
This comes after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the recommendation to local government units after a year of arrests for “non-cooperation” and disobedience raps.
Speaking at the Laging Handa press briefing, Interior Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya was careful to defend the existing policy by pointing out that arrests — thousands of which have already been made by police, PNP data shows — are not the immediate penalty for violators.
"Let me first say that our policy is not to go straight to arrests. In fact, most of the time the first offense only yields a warning, and the second offense is usually a fine," Malaya said in mixed Filipino and English.
"These penalties are within the scope of ordinances passed by cities and municipalities and signed by mayors. So these aren't controlled by the National Task Force or Inter-Agency Task Force. Having said that, we support this initiative, and if our counselors are willing to amend their ordinances, that's well and good. It might be better to have [violators] do community service instead."
Cases of abuse at the hands of power-tripping enforcers have been well-documented amid the enhanced community quarantine.
Asked about the case of a man who died after being made to do 300 rounds of exercise by police who caught him outside after curfew hours, Malaya said that the department was already investigating the matter.
"The report came to us and we looked at it immediately. Our officer in charge gave a directive to the PNP and the Joint Task Force COVID Shield," Malaya said, adding that Police Lt. Gen. Cesar Binag gave an assurance to the department that a team at the Police Regional Office 4A was already investigating the incident.
"I wish to assure the public that if any abuse from our policemen comes out of this investigation, we will have them answer for it and file criminal and administrative cases if any abuse is proven. Let's let the PNP's investigation continue," Malaya said.
The interior spokesperson added that the local government unit of Cavite was also investigating to see if there were any lapses on the part of the barangay watchmen involved.
READ: Back to 'disiplina'? On second day of ECQ, stories of power-tripping enforcers
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