AUTHORITIES may apprehend or send home people who go out without wearing any kind of face cover amid the country’s battle against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), a police official said on Friday.
Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, Joint Task Force COVID-19 Shield commander and Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for operations, said the government has ordered the wearing of any face protection when going outside one’s residence as part of safety measures against the novel coronavirus.
"Our policemen may deny entry, apprehend, reprimand, or send home violators of the mandatory wearing of face protection," Eleazar said in a radio interview.
He also urged local government units to pass their respective ordinance to set the penalty against those who will violate the order.
The JTF CV Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. It is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Meanwhile, Eleazar said they have tapped the PNP-Highway Patrol Group to ensure the unhampered travel of cargo delivery trucks.
He said they were continuously receiving reports that some cargo trucks were being intercepted at checkpoints.
He said HPG personnel will set up checkpoints at the boundaries of each town or other strategic areas where only cargoes will be inspected.
He said it could also go along with the existing community control points.
All vehicles carrying cargoes, including trucks, vans, pick-up and jeepneys are exempted from being flagged down or checked at the quarantine control points as they will be checked at the HPG dedicated control points.
"Cargo vehicles will only be inspected at HPG-manned and HPG-supervised Dedicated Control Points, and inspection will only be done if necessary. These cargo vehicles must not be flagged down or inspected at the QCPs,” he said.
“The objective here is to ensure that deliveries of food and other basic goods are not subjected to unnecessary and redundant inspections which are the usual reason of the delay,” Eleazar added. (SunStar Philippines)