Taguig residents buck NCRPO quarantine facility

MANILA, Philippines — Some residents in Taguig City are opposing the move of the National Capital Region Police Office to convert an old building into a quarantine facility for NCRPO personnel and frontliners.

The NCRPO’s old Regional District Support Unit building, which is within the territory of the Southern Police District (SPD) headquarters along Lawton Avenue at Fort Bonifacio, is reportedly being renovated into an isolation facility for persons suspected to be infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

Arles delos Santos, one of the residents of the Southern Police District Housing Association Inc., said the building is about 30 meters away from the residential area.

Delos Santos said the renovation of the two-story building started in May.

“I asked the police if they have permit to construct the building into a COVID-19 isolation facility but they failed to present one,” Delos Santos said in an interview with The STAR. “They also failed to present any certificate issued by the Department of Health.”

He claimed that the police have been harassing them and asking them to vacate the place.

Another resident, 54-year-old Dading Lacson, expressed fear that they might catch the virus.

“We enter and exit the residential compound through that building. We are scared because there is still no cure for COVID-19,” Lacson said.

NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said they do not need any permit to renovate the police building.

 “The place is being renovated for our frontliners. There is no guidance from the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) that we need to ask for permission if we want to repair the building,” Sinas said.

He added that there are other buildings at the NCRPO headquarters at Camp Bagong Diwa that are being transformed into COVID-19 isolation areas.

“We do not need any permit because this is exclusively for the police. They are illegally residing on our property and yet they accused police of harassing them,” Sinas said.

SPD director Col. Emmanuel Peralta said the police headquarters is covered by the military reservation area.

“They are land grabbers because they do not have official titles for the property. They illegally set up houses in the area,” he said.

Peralta said city hall personnel are set to inspect the area to determine if there is a need to evict the residents.