THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) has apprehended a total of 631 violators of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) guidelines since April 4 up to April 19, 2020.
About half of the total ECQ guideline violators or 320 individuals were apprehended between April 18 to 19, 2020.
Out of 320, 255 violations were related to food and medicine (FM) passes, 52 were curfew violations, 11 were violations of the liquor ban, and two were related to social distancing.
Davao City Police Office (DCPO) spokesperson Captain Rose Aguilar noted that numbers increased because they were able to apprehend violators within the nooks of the city.
“Naa sila sa mga hilit na lugar. Nagtoo sila na di sila masakpan mao ng daghan arrested (They are within the nooks of their areas thinking they will not be caught that is why we were able to arrest many violators),” she said.
Earlier, 19 individuals were arrested and detained by the police in Sta. Ana Substation for going out on Sunday, April 19.
The City Government of Davao recently limited the use of food and medicine (FM) passes through a number coding scheme.
Based on the coding scheme, the FM passes cannot be used on Sundays.
Aguilar said the violators were released after collecting their details.
“In 12 hours dapat ma-process na sila [then] i-release sila (They will be processed and they will be released),” she said.
However, she said they will be issued with a subpoena after the ECQ is lifted.
On April 1, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as well as the regional officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have agreed to suspend the conduct of inquest proceedings to the apprehended curfew violators.
DILG in Davao Region regional director Alex Roldan said the violators will be charged under the regular filing of cases, thus, subpoenas will be sent to them when the health crisis normalizes. (With reports from Juliet Revita)