House urged to probe into death of ‘quarantine violator’ after being forced to exercise
MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers from the leftist party-list Bayan Muna are urging the human rights panel of the House of Representatives to investigate the death of an alleged quarantine violator after being forced to do 300 body pumps by police.
“It is imperative for members of Congress, as representatives of our people, to defend the rights of our people and check on excesses and violations committed against them, especially in this time of crisis,” Reps. Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite said in House Resolution No. 1697.
They said further, “Laws and rules should serve the interest of our people, and should not be weaponized to suppress their rights and oppress them.”
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— Xave Gregorio (@XaveGregorio) April 8, 2021
Darren Manaog Peñaredondo was on his way to get water during curfew hours when he was apprehended and made to do 300 rounds of a pumping exercise, according to an account by his cousin posted on Facebook. He died from a stroke days later.
General Trias police initially denied that they made quarantine violators do exercises as punishment, but an investigation later determined that they did, leading to the relief of the city’s police chief, Police Lt. Col. Marlo Solero, and two other cops.
But relief from a position is not the same as dismissal from service as Solero is just in a provincial office based in Imus, while the two cops are placed under the direct supervision and control of the provincial director.
Not the first time
The Bayan Muna lawmakers noted that this is not the first time that complaints were raised against police for alleged abuses in the punishment of quarantine violators.
“Reports range from curfew violators locked inside a dog cage in Laguna to quarantine violators made to sit under the heat of midday sun in Parañaque. In Bulacan, a man who allegedly avoided a checkpoint was killed by police in an alleged shootout,” they said.
READ: Back to 'disiplina'? On second day of ECQ, stories of power-tripping enforcers
Other cases of abuse at the hands of power-tripping enforcers have been well-documented amid the enhanced community quarantine.
More than 9,000 police personnel have been deployed to man the 1,106 quarantine control points within the so-called NCR Plus bubble to strictly implement protocols amid the ECQ and uniform curfew.
On the first day of the second ECQ alone, the PNP disclosed that nearly 2,600 were arrested for various quarantine violations across Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
This comes on top of the over 17,000 who have already been apprehended for supposed quarantine violations since the PNP started deploying cops to enforce uniform curfew hours in the capital region. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Franco Luna
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