IATF: Filing of charges vs local officials only for grave violations
MANILA, Philippines — The option to file charges against local officials who will violate the Luzon quarantine guidelines will only be applied to grievous instances, the inter-agency task force handling the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis said Thursday.
In a virtual press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the government, through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), will only reach out to local government units (LGUs) that have committed “minor’ violations.
“Kung meron talagang grievous and grave violation we will apply ‘yung Bayanihan to Heal as One Act…if it’s just a matter of miscommunication, misapplication or things like that, madali naman pakiusapan eh pwede naman kausapin. And the DILG has been doing that and the LGUs adjust,” Nograles said.
“Reserved lang ‘yung power to file cases and prosecute. That’s only in grievous and grave instances,” he stressed.
This is after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) summoned Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto to explain his supposed violation of the national government’s policy on the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
Sotto recently got the ire of the DILG when he reportedly allowed the limited operation of tricycles in his city to ferry health workers and patients with urgent needs to hospitals.
This is prohibited under the Luzon lockdown guidelines, which suspended operations of public transportation.
Sotto however said he had stopped allowing tricycles to operate in Pasig streets before the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act was signed into law.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered local government units to “stand down” and let the national government call the shots after reports reached his office that some local officials “go beyond” the quarantine rules, with a warning that those who would “overdo things” will face administrative or even criminal charges.
