Curfew hours must remain while COVID-19 vaccine still unavailable — Eleazar

MANILA, Philippines — Curfew hours must be retained while there is still no COVID-19 vaccine as it helps prevent crime as well as suppress further contamination of the coronavirus disease, Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Tuesday.

“Tungkol sa curfew kahit maalis ‘yung quarantine at new normal tayo unless wala pang vaccine, we recommend na talaga na mayroong curfew. Nakatulong siya for the past 154 days, 49 percent ang binaba and kung titingnan natin malaki ang bagay ng curfew, na-prevent natin ang looting,” Eleazar told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

(In terms of curfew even if the quarantine is removed and while new normal is implemented unless there is no vaccine, we recommend that we have curfew hours. It helped in the past 154 days, the crime rate decreased at 49 percent and it also prevented looting.)

“Malaking bagay ang curfew. That will restrict unnecessary movement ng tao na carrier ng virus,” he added.

(Curfew is a big help. It will restrict the unnecessary movement of the carriers of the virus.)

Recent data from JTF COVID Shield showed a 62 percent decrease in crime against property, including theft and robbery, since the start of the community quarantine last March 17.

During the strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), local governments implemented curfew hours of 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. but during the general community quarantine (GCQ), curfew hours were adjusted to 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Eleazar suggested that local government units should have coordinated curfew hours during the less strict coronavirus lockdown.

“Sa curfew maganda rin yun magkaroon ng coordinated enforcement or ordinance tungkol sa curfew na hindi ba dati nun 8 (p.m.) to 5 (a.m.) nung ECQ tayo. Ngayon, nung naging GCQ na nag-adjust naging 10 p.m. na,” he said.

(It is better for LGUs to have coordinated enforcement or ordinance about the curfew, since before we have 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. in ECQ and during GCQ they adjusted it to 10 p.m.)

Metro Manila and four other provinces were placed under a less strict general community quarantine from Aug. 19 to Aug. 31 after the government imposed two-week enhanced community quarantine in these areas.

As of Monday, the Philippines documented a total of 164,474 COVID-19 cases including 112,759 recoveries and 2,681 fatalities.

JE