MANILA, Philippines — Lñcal officials should exercise “maximum tolerance” when enforcing protocols of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) following the beating of a vendor in Quezon City, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Wednesday.
“Kailangan maximum tolerance ka pa rin diyan saka may batas tayong susundin at yung batas na yan dun tayo huhugot,” DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Martin Diño told radio station dzBB when asked about his reaction on a vendor who was beaten by local authorities on Monday, April 27, afternoon.
(You need to exercise maximum tolerance and we need to follow the law.)
“Meron tayong batas pero hindi mo dapat saktan. Yan ang inaano natin sa barangay ngayon na kailangan yung proseso ng batas ang gagawin mo diyan,” he added.
(We have the law and you should not hurt them. That’s why we are instructing our barangay officials that we need to follow the rule of law.)
In a video published on Tuesday, members of the Office of the Mayor’s Task Force Disiplina were seen hitting a vendor with a stick after the latter had reportedly failed to wear a face mask along Panay Avenue in Quezon City.
Residents tried to stop the local authorities from hitting the vendor, saying they were “abusing their power.”
The Quezon City government said it has already launched an investigation into the incident.
However, Diño said local authorities can defend themselves if ECQ violators will fight back.
“In the event na lumaban yan (ECQ violator), that’s the time na ipagtatanggol yung sarili natin,” Diño said.
(In the event that the ECQ violator will fight back then that’s the time that they can defend themselves.)