POLICEMEN will carry one-meter wooden sticks to enforce physical distancing in malls and other crowded places during the holiday season.

They will use this stick to measure the distance between two persons and beat those who insist on defying the protocol, said Joint Task Force Covid Shield commander Lieutenant General Cesar Hawthorne Binag.

“Meron pa kaming tinawag na social distancing patrol at ito ‘yung inutos sa atin ng Chief PNP si General (Debold) Sinas. May hawak na yantok yan, isang metro yan, pangsaway tapos panukat (at) pamalo na rin kung doon sa matitigas ang ulo,” Binag said.

(We have what we call social distancing patrol on orders of PNP Chief Debold Sinas. Policemen will carry a wooden stick to enforce physical distancing, measure the distance between two persons and beat those who defy the protocol.)

Binag said the Philippine National Police (NP) has doubled the number of policemen deployed on the streets to enforce wearing of face masks and face shields, and physical distancing in public areas such as markets, malls, churches, terminals and ports.

He said the directive was issued after shoppers in Divisoria in Manila failed to observe physical distancing. Divisoria is a shopping haven known for low-priced goods.

Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso earlier reminded the public, especially those going shopping in Divisoria, to always be cautious and distance themselves from other people to avoid infection with Sars-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Domagoso said it would be ironic if shoppers score great deals in Divisoria only to spend a lot more money if they get infected.

Binag said police commanders were also ordered way ahead to coordinate with mall managers for the enforcement of health protocols in malls.

JTF Covid Shield, which enforces the health safety protocols, is also coordinating with church officials to enforce physical distancing and other minimum public health standards, during the dawn masses, or simbang gabi.

As of Saturday, December 5, 2020, the Department of Health has recorded a total of 438,069 infections in the country with 8,526 deaths, 29,961 active cases and 399,582 recoveries. (SunStar Philippines)