Taguig condo not exempt from ECQ rules

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities on Monday defended the policemen who entered a high-end residential condominium in Taguig City and allegedly berated residents who were supposedly violating enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) guidelines, particularly social distancing and the wearing of face masks.

Joint Task Force coronavirus disease (JTF COVID) Shield chief Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar asked condominium building and subdivision administrators to always observe home quarantine and social distancing protocols under the ECQ guidelines, warning that “otherwise, we will not hesitate to enforce the law in your areas.” But at the same time he said the incident would be investigated.

According to JTF COVID Shield, the policemen went to the condominium in response to complaints that some residents of Pacific Plaza Towers (PPT), mostly foreigners, were gathered on Sunday afternoon in a common area, in violation of ECQ rules and a city ordinance.

“The last time we checked, there is no existing state or entity inside the Philippines that could craft and implement its own laws or guidelines, especially pertaining to the COVID-19 safety measures,” Eleazar said.

“The ECQ guideline is plain and simple: Stay at home and observe social distancing when going out of your house—anytime, anywhere and regardless of your social status. Thus, that condo residential place and the people living there are not exempted,” he added.

Among the residents of the condominium located at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) are foreign diplomats.

No excuses

“The violators are not excused nor exempted from the national directive to use face masks, observe social distancing and the like. Being law enforcers, we are merely implementing the directives because as we all know, that is a common area and we are putting the life of the people inside that community at risk,” National Capital Region Police Office director Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said in a statement.

Police Col. Celso Rodriguez, Taguig police chief, also expressed support for Police Community Precinct 7 head Police Maj. Joseph Austria, who went to the condominium with three of his men.

“My policemen … are just doing their job. [They] did nothing wrong. He (Austria) should be praised instead. There should be no exemption in the implementation of the law—whatever your race, status in life is, wherever you live. If we will not do this, it will seem like we are being selective on how we implement the guidelines. It’s as if they’re saying we should only operate in slum areas,” Rodriguez said in an interview.

According to him, they were looking into the possible filing of cases against the violators.

But in a statement, Erwin Elechicon, PPT Condominium president, protested the policemen’s actions.

“There were about six to eight residents in the [pool] area, all practicing social distancing, none of them using pool facilities and just walking or sitting away from each other, talking in the afternoon sun … Despite this, the policemen, particularly [Austria], accosted some of the residents, including one of the board members. [He] berated them loudly for not following the guidelines and curtly shouted at them to go away,” Elechicon said.

Charges to be filed

According to him, they were bent on filing criminal charges against the policemen “for treating their residents in a very unseemly and agitated way” on top of civil charges for possible violation of the residents’ personal and property rights.

“The actions of the Philippine National Police in entering PPT were extremely upsetting, clearly inappropriate and possibly illegal. We will not let this stand,” Elechicon said. He added that they had already sought the help of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and were still waiting for a response from Mayor Lino Cayetano.

“It is a disappointment, to say the least, that we should be treated this way by authorities. The ‘enemy’ is out there and it’s called COVID-19. It is certainly not us, the Pacific Plaza Towers, where we all feel that we are part of the same team and with the same objective—to remove the scourge of COVID-19. We do not deserve this, and we certainly should expect an explanation and assurance of our safety and due respect from our authorities,” he said.

Sinas, however, claimed that it was a complaint from Cayetano’s office that prompted the BGC police to go to PPT.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, said that based on their own investigation, the policemen chanced upon the residents hanging out at the pool and common area and told them to go home. He also denied that Austria deliberately shouted at the residents, saying he “was only shouting so that residents could hear them.”

—With a report from Dexter Cabalza