More cops deployed at Manila beach

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar yesterday ordered the Manila Police District (MPD) to beef up its presence at Manila Bay’s dolomite beach to ensure visitors are strictly complying with COVID-19 protocols.

Eleazar said he directed the MPD to deploy more police officers at the beach to prevent a repeat of an incident last year wherein physical distancing protocols were not observed after hundreds flocked to the area.

“There is a need for thorough planning and regular monitoring of the area,” he said in Filipino in a statement.

The government recently allowed people to visit the 500-meter stretch of the bay’s shoreline covered with artificial white sand.

In September last year, the commander of the Ermita police station was sacked for failure to implement health and safety protocols at the dolomite beach.

Eleazar earlier ordered police units to strictly enforce quarantine protocols at possible superspreader events after the Department of Health detected the more transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19.