Lockdown violators in crowded jails may trigger spike in COVID cases — Villanueva

QUARANTINE VIOLATORS Residents in Davao City venturing out of their homes are arrested by police during Sunday’s lockdown in Davao City. Food and medicine passes are not valid on Sundays and only workers from essential industries are allowed to leave their homes. —KARLOS MANLUPIG

MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to place quarantine violators in jam-packed jails as this may only lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases, Senator Joel Villanueva said Saturday.

In a statement, Villanueva said that while the police need to step up the enforcement of health protocols, there is no need to put violators behind bars.

“We cannot invoke public health in jailing quarantine violators and then throw them to jam-packed jails where they will surely get infected,” Villanueva, chair of the Senate labor committee, said.

“I hope there’s no mass incarceration because what we need now is mass vaccination,” he added.

Villanueva also said that the role of police officers is to enforce minimum public health standards should the outbreak go out of control.

“Whatever task is given to our police force, they should do it with compassion and kindness,” he said.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) previously urged local government units to enforce ordinances that will penalize violations of health rules with a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

DILG Undersecretary for operations Epimaco Densing said that 878 of the 1,500 local governments in the country have ordinances requiring observance of public health measures. Of the 878, only 600 have ordinances that penalize breaches of health rules.

Densing added that violators of health rules may either be fined or given jail time. The DILG also suggested community service as another penalty for lockdown violations.

/MUF