MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police on Friday warned lawyer Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon that he may face arrest for blatantly refusing to wear a face mask and face shield in public places, violating the minimum health protocols in the country.
“Hindi uubra ito, DOH (Department of Health) ang naglabas nito at sinabayan ng maraming ordinansa so sa ngayon, kapag inulit pa niya (Gadon) ulit yan pwedeng puntahan ng pulis at pagsabihan at pagpumalag, pwedeng arestuhin,” Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP deputy for operations, told INQUIRER.net, reacting to reports that Gadon has repeatedly flouted such ordinance and health protocols, and who has openly been seen and heard numerous times about his vehement refusal to comply.
(This is not allowed, the DOH mandated this as well as local ordinances so if he repeats this, police will remind him of the health protocols and if he will disobey, he will get arrested.)
PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac echoed Eleazar’s remark, saying Gadon must follow the rules as he is an officer of the court.
“Atty. Larry Gadon may face arrest if he continues to violate health protocols and ordinances imposed by Local Government Units that require the use of face mask and face shield in public,” Banac said in another statement.
“As an officer of the court he should know better than to flagrantly disrespect the rules and regulations that protect public health,” he added.
Eleazar, who is also the commander of Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID Shield, said Gadon could be liable for violation of Manila City’s Ordinance No. 8627, which mandates citizens to wear face masks in public, and the Republic Act 11332 or the Law on Reporting of Communicable Disease.
Gadon was in Manila on Thursday to petition the Supreme Court to nullify a 33-year-old law renaming the Manila International Airport to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
He came under fire earlier this month after a picture of him wearing a face shield with a surgical mask taped to it circulated in social media. The lawyer then made known his disbelief that wearing masks is a deterrent to the coronavirus disease, and that the government was just overreacting to the COVID-19 paranoia.
On top of this, Gadon, who is not a medical professional, slammed the DOH for instilling fear to the public on the respiratory disease. He even claimed that COVID-19 is curable.
His claims have been repeatedly disputed by the DOH, adding that this “misinformation” is “not a joking matter,” considering the massive number of the population who have fallen due to the disease.
The Philippines’ total tally of COVID-19 cases has reached 205,5811 Thursday after 3,249 new infections were logged by the DOH. Based on the latest case bulletin from DOH, there are now 68,357 are active COVID-19 cases.