MANILA, Philippines — Joint Task Force Coronavirus (JTF Covid) Shield on Wednesday asked local chief executives to come up with ordinances that would penalize acts of discrimination against health workers, COVID-19 patients and their families.
While criminal acts are punished under the Revised Penal Code, JTF Covid Shield commander and Philippine National Police deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen.Guillermo Eleazar said the ordinances would separately punish, and thus deter, all acts of discrimination against suspected or probable COVID-19 cases.
In recent attacks in Cebu, Cotabato and Iloilo cities, medical front-liners were either splashed with disinfectant, evicted from their rental homes, or had their house stoned.
—Jeannette I. Andrade