MANILA, Philippines – The sixteen individuals who were arrested in the City of Manila for violating the curfew amid the COVID-19 outbreak failed to post bail due to the suspension of courts, Mayor Isko Moreno announced on Wednesday.
According to Moreno, 14 of the violators are Filipino while two others are foreign nationals. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court announced that court hearings would be suspended from March 13 to 18 due to the treat of COVID-19.
“May iilan pang matigas ang ulo, hindi ko maintindihan ‘don sa mga iilan na ‘yon, ano ang nasa isipan ninyo. Just so you know, we are implementing strictly Ordinance 8616, katulad ng naganap kagabi, labing anin na po ang naka-kulong sa ngayon,” he said during a briefing.
(There are some hard-headed people, I do no understand them, what they are thinking. Just so you know, we are strictly implementing Ordinance 8616, like last night, we have arrested 16 individuals.)
“Sila po ay pansamantalang nakakulong dala nang wala pong husgado ngayon at hindi sila makakapag-piyansa. Sana naman ho sumunod tayo sa panawagan, ‘wag nating ipagsawalang bahala ang mga panawagang ito,” he added.
(They are temporarily detained as they cannot post bail because of the absence of judges right now. I hope we heed the call of the government, let us not disregard these advisories.)
READ: SC suspends court hearings from March 13-18 due to coronavirus threat
Manila enforced a curfew last Sunday, a day before President Rodrigo Duterte restricted movement outside for people except those working in the frontline services, like healthcare workers and service crews.
READ: Manila City imposes 8 pm to 5 am curfew
Duterte placed the whole Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine after COVID-19 cases rose quickly. As of Wednesday, the Department of Health said that there are 202 confirmed cases in the Philippines, 17 of which have died.
At least seven have recovered, while there are six patients who were allowed to go on a home quarantine mode.
Moreno urged Manila residents to heed the government’s social distancing advice, and stay at home if they have nothing important to do.
“Manatili kayo sa loob ng bahay kung wala rin naman kayong gagawing mahalaga sa labas o sa kalsada. Tigilan niyo na po ‘yong mga bisyo ng inuman, hindi ho mawawala ang alak, nandyan lang ho ‘yan, may mga report pa kami ng mga nag-iinuman,” he noted.
READ: BREAKING: 15 new COVID-19 cases bring total to 202
READ: Luzon now under ‘enhanced community quarantine’ – Palace
The COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses, whose surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.
Worldwide, over 193,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded, 7,865 of which have died. On the other hand, another 81,743 patients have recovered.