Police ready for tougher measures to curb lockdown violations – Eleazar

MANILA, Philippines — The Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield  is ready to carry out President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to impose  “martial law-like” measures against quarantine violators, JTF CV Shield chief and Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy for Operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said in a statement on Friday.

Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Operations PLtGen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar inspects Metro Manila Community Quarantine Checkpoints at the boundary of Meycauayan, Bulucan and Malanday, Valenzuela City in this file photo. (Niño Jesus Orbeta/INQUIRER)

“The JTF COVID Shield is ready for any scenario and is always ready to comply with the President’s order,” Eleazar said.

“We have various contingency plans in every quarantine level– ready to be implemented anywhere and anytime,” Eleazar added.

On Thursday night, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he may order the military and police force to implement “martial law-like” lockdown measures due to the rising number of violators of the enhanced community quarantine rules.

The JTF CV Shield, which is composed of PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines, PNP-Anti-Cybercrime Group and Bureau of Fire Protection, is the enforcer of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging and Infectious Disease guidelines for the quarantine.

So far, the JTF CV Shield has documented 119,061 quarantine protocol violators who were either arrested, warned or fined.

As of April 16, Thursday, the Department of Health reported 5,660 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 435 recoveries and 362 deaths.

GSG