ECQ extension in NCR? PNP ready for whatever, says Eleazar

FILE PHOTO: PNP chief General Guillermo Eleazar. (Photo by Jun A. Malig)

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Wednesday assured of the police force’s readiness to enforce protocols whether the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will be extended in or even expanded outside of Metro Manila.

Eleazar said the PNP understands that it is the prerogative of local government officials and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to prolong the hard lockdown in the nation’s capital region or widen the ECQ status coverage to other areas.

Metro Manila is on ECQ from August 6-20.

“Our Metro Manila mayors and the IATF are in the better position to recommend on whether or not the ECQ in NCR will be extended,” Eleazar said in a video message uploaded on the PNP’s Facebook page.

“Handa po ang PNP sa anumang desisyon tungkol sa pagpapatupad ng ECQ hindi lamang sa Metro Manila, kung hindi pati na rin sa ibang bahagi ng ating bansa,” he added.

(The PNP is ready for whatever decision officials make not only about the implementation of the ECQ over Metro Manila but for the rest of the country as well.)

According to Eleazar, the police force is only the government’s partner in the implementation of peace and order and health ules, and it would follow the regulations in place to curb the spread of the dreaded COVID-19.

“Kami naman sa PNP ay nagpapatupad lamang po ng mga desisyong ito, bilang kabahagi ng pamahalaan na ang mithiin lamang ay di na lumala pa ang pandemya sa ating bansa sa pamamagitan ng pagpapatupad ng mga patakarang mismong ang mga health experts ang nagsasabing epektibo para protektahan ang ating mga kababayan,” he noted.

(We at the PNP are only implementing these decisions, as a partner of the government which only seeks to stop the harmful effects of this pandemic unto our country, using measures that health experts themselves say are effective in protecting the public.)

Aside from Metro Manila, the provinces of Bataan and Laguna were also placed under ECQ as the government tries to prevent the further spread of the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant.

On Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported that 12,021 more people in the country contracted COVID-19 — the highest in four months, or since the coronavirus Alpha variant-led case increases from March to May this year.

READ: PH logs highest COVID cases in four months with 12,021 new infections

To date, the Philippines’ highest daily case record was last April 2 at 15, 310 although it included 3,709 case backlogs.

READ: Highest number ever: PH logs 15,310 new COVID-19 cases 

Active cases are now at 81,399, which represents 4.8 percent of all the confirmed cases which stands at 1,688,040.  Of this count, 1,577,267 are recoveries, while 29,374 are deaths.

KGA