No harsh penalties for quarantine violators, Sinas assures
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Debold M. Sinas yesterday assured that orders have been given to his men not to resort to harsh penalties for quarantine violators in any part of the country since the most they can do is to require them to pay fines or do community service as ordered by local government units.
As part of their effort to ‘decongest’’ police custodial facilities, police have been told not to arrest simple quarantine offenders in NCR Plus ‘Bubble’ areas as well as other parts of the country which are implementing their own quarantine measures.
Sinas said there is no order to arrest and require curfew and other quarantine protocol violators to perform strenuous physical exercises. The instruction, he said is to simply require the violators to follow rules and guidelines imposed by local government units including the payment of fines and conduct of community service.
Since last March 29 to date, more than 47,000 violators of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in NCR Plus Bubble have been apprehended by the police who are also under instruction to keep their patience and exercise maximum tolerance and prudence in enforcing the 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. curfew.
Other violators accosted include those who were found not wearing their face masks or face shields, drinking or gambling in public and violating the rules on mass gathering.
According to PNP spokesperson, Brigadier Gen. Ildebrandi N. Usana, policemen specifically those manning Quarantine Control Points in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal as well as those conducting patrols have been directed to merely warn curfew and other health protocol violators that they will be made to pay fines or perform community service as required by their LGUs.
“From our end, in so far as the implementation of ECQ is concerned, we are only requiring police officers, those who are conducting checkpoints, to just simply warn, and if there are ordinances that require these violators to pay fines, then they will be fined. Maybe some seminars along the way. But for them to be arrested, the Chief PNP himself already instructed our police officers not to do so because that would be tantamount to being counterproductive to addressing the concerns of these violators,” said Usana.
Usana addes that the PNP leadership is not tolerating the practice of some erring law enforcement officers to require quarantine violators to perform strenuous physical exercise.
He explained that penalties for quarantine violations will only be based on Republic Act 11332 or the Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases and the respective LGU ordinances.
Of the over 47,000 violators apprehended, more than 24,000 were accosted for non-wearing of face shields while nearly 13,000 were apprehended for their failure to wear the required face masks.
The rest were apprehended for violating social distancing and mass gathering rules.
Earlier, Cavite Police Provincial Office director, Colonel Marlon R. Santos ordered the administrative relief of the chief of the General Trias City Police Station and two of his men in the aftermath of an incident in which a curfew violator died in a hospital after reportedly being made to do 300 ‘pumping exercise’ which his body failed to endure.
Usana made it clear that police must not require quarantine protocol violators to perform strenuous physical exercise just like what cadets in a military of police training facility do every day. What officers must do, he explained, is to merely require the offenders to follow what LGUs say when it comes to payment of approved fines or community service.
“Last year, we learned our lessons. We have had enough of the controversies that involved a number of our police officers and this year the chief PNP wanted that arrests should be out of the question. There must only be either warning or fines to be imposed depending of course on the LGU requirement,” he said.
Santos told the Journal Group that he ordered the administrative relief of the General Trias City Police Station commander in the aftermath of the ongoing investigation into the death of Darren Peñaredondo, a curfew violator who reportedly was forced to at least 300 ‘pumping’ exercises.
The official issued the order after discovering that two of the quarantine violators accosted along with the 28-year old Peñaredondo ,have executed sworn affidavits that they indeed were made to do ‘knee bending’ physical exercises by two General Trias City policemen.
General Trias City police chief, Lieutenant Col. Marlo Solero earlier denied that the fatality and the other ECQ violators who were apprehended by his men were ordered to do ‘pumping’ exercises and instead said that the only punishment for quarantine violators in the city is community service.
The two local policemen who ordered the ECQ violators to perform the physical activities were earlier relieved from their post.
“The COP, who made a statement of denial earlier, and the two cops are now placed under the direct supervision and control of the PD who went straight to General Trias City to validate for himself from vital witnesses what actually happened during that fateful night that may probably be one of the preceding causes of the death of Mr. Darren Peñaredondo,” said Usana.
The official said the filing of administrative and/or criminal charges against the three will be handled by the Cavite PPO headquarters. With the approval of our Regional Director, Brig. Gen. Felipe Natividad, I relieved the General Trias police chief and his two men. The chief of police was relieved for his statement of denial without conducting a validation. The COP treated the words of his people as a gospel truth without any investigation thereby compromising the integrity of the PNP as a whole, Santos said.
Usana said the actions taken by the Cavite police director is aimed at “assuring that the PNP does not tolerate any act that is inimical to the best interest of our people, particularly the aggrieved parties in the Peñaredondo case.”
The fatality’s live-in partner Reichelyn Balce said Darren was accosted by barangay watchmen for violating the curfew when he went out of their house to buy mineral water.
The ECQ violators were brought to the local police station where they were reportedly ordered to pumping exercises. The man went home in pain around 8 a.m. last Friday. He eventually died in a local hospital.
