24-hour curfew imposed on seniors, students in the Visayas

SILENT NIGHT The usually active night life along Mango Avenue is left empty after the imposition of a curfew in Cebu City. DALE G. ISRAEL

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — In a bid to spare the vulnerable from the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), authorities have directed all senior citizens and young people in the Visayas to stay indoors all the time.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Diño issued on Saturday a controversial advisory enforcing a “24-hour curfew” on those 65 years old and above and on all students in Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas.

Exempted are students who are now active volunteers of medical-related activities or intend to volunteer.

Senior citizens can only go out of their houses during medical emergencies or when they undergo routine medical procedures or checkups. Dino’s advisory, however, drew criticisms questioning his authority to issue such directive.

On Sunday, the advisory was taken down from the Facebook page of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas. But local executives persisted in adopting it, especially those in the provinces of Cebu and Bohol and in Cebu City.

In Cebu, the order took effect at 3 p.m. on Sunday, upon the approval of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia. Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap admonished the elderly and minors to heed the order or face arrest.

“There will be checkpoints to apprehend those who will not follow the order,” he said.

All barangay officials and law enforcement agencies in Bohol were directed to strictly implement the 24-hour curfew.

‘Stay-at-home order’

“The inadequacy of the public and private hospitals to cope with potential dire medical possibility in light of the recent increase of PUMs [persons under monitoring] in the province necessitates the provincial government of Bohol to take proactive and aggressive steps to shelter the most vulnerable from possible infection of a virus,” Yap said.

Cebu City MayorEdgar Labella also issued his own executive order, which prohibits seniors and those age 18 years old and below from leaving their homes.

Exempted from the “stay-at-home order” are elected government officials belonging to the two age brackets, other authorized government officials, key executives in private establishments, private and public medical practitioners, and those needing medical treatment or checkup. 0

Labella said violators would not be detained but would be escorted by authorities back to their homes.

Pregnant women, too

“This is permissive and if there is a valid reason [why they are out of their homes] we will allow. I asked the police to [exercise] maximum tolerance. They are not criminals. The purpose here is to prevent the spread of the virus,” he said.

In Tacloban City, Mayor Alfred Romualdez enforced a similar same measure but included pregnant women and those with preexisting medical conditions.

He said those vulnerable to COVID-19 must stay in their homes during the enforced restrictive quarantine Although he didn’t identify Diño, human rights lawyer Theodore Te, a former Supreme Court spokesperson, reminded “unelected presidential assistants” that they could not issue an advisory or order for people to follow.

“Unelected presidential assistants cannot issue an ‘advisory,’ then use the word ‘order’, impose a 24-hour curfew, command the PNP [Philippine National Police] and the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], and then say the guidelines are for compliance until they are withdrawn,” Te, a University of the Philippines law professor, said on Twitter.

Other lawyers pointed out that a curfew would require the passage of an ordinance by a municipal or city council, which will become the basis of executive orders issued by chief executives.

A mayor in Western Visayas said Dino was overreaching his authority, pointing out that only local government units could impose curfews on their localities after passing ordinances.

“I understand that that the presidential assistant’s mandate is to facilitate and ensure coordination among the Office of the President, national government agencies and local government units. His order is just adding to the confusion,” the mayor, who asked not to be identified to avoid earning the ire of Diño, told the Inquirer.

The mayor said most local government units had already imposed measures barring residents from going out of their homes, except for essential purposes like buying food and medicine, and emergencies.

“We are all exhausted doing our best to [respond to] the needs of our constituents. He should not meddle in matters outside his mandate,” the official said in the vernacular.

—Reports from Dale G. Israel, Nestor P. Burgos Jr, Joey S. Gabieta and Leo Udtohan