Duterte: NBI probing local officials who violated community quarantine rules

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is currently investigating and preparing appropriate charges against local government officials who violated the guidelines of the Luzon-wide quarantine.

This was included in President Rodrigo Duterte’s first weekly report to Congress on the additional powers it granted him to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

“The NBI is investigating and filing charges against local government officials who willfully disregard, contravene, or violate national guidelines on community quarantine set by the IATF-EID (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” Duterte said in his report dated March 30.

The President earlier ordered local government units to “stand down” and let the national government call the shots after reports supposedly reached his office that some local officials “go beyond” the quarantine rules.

“I was a mayor myself, in case you have forgotten, but this is an emergency of national proportion and therefore it is the national government that should call the shots,” Duterte said in a March 20 public address.

Those who will “overdo things” will face administrative or even criminal charges, Duterte warned.

The warning came after Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto allowed the limited operation of tricycles in his city to ferry health workers and patients with immediate medical needs to hospitals amid the Luzon lockdown.

He also appealed to the national government to allow the use of tricycles for public health and safety.

The Pasig mayor’s move, however, did not sit well with Malacañang, stressing that allowing tricycle operations will expose more people to the coronavirus.

Duterte placed the entire Luzon under lockdown in a bid to prevent the further spread of the infectious respiratory disease that has so far infected 1,546 people as of Monday, 78 of whom have died while 42 managed to recover.