PNP nets 40k violators in 1st week of Metro Manila ECQ

More than 40,000 individuals have been apprehended by the Philippine National Police in the National Capital Region (NCR) for violating different health protocols in the first week of the two-week hard lockdown.

Citing statistical data from Joint Task Force Covid Shield, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the PNP chief, said that from Aug. 6 to Aug. 12, there were 40,314 violators apprehended, fined and warned for various infractions of quarantine guidelines in Metro Manila.

The NCR was placed on the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until Aug. 20 to prevent the further spread of the more infectious delta variant.

“Since the start of the ECQ implementation in Metro Manila on Aug. 6, your PNP has been accosting an average of 5,759 violators per day,” Eleazar said in a statement on Friday.

Based on PNP data, police rounded up a total of 134,606 violators since Aug. 6 in Metro Manila, and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal. By average, 19,229 were arrested each day for the past week in the so-called NCR Plus.

Across the country, the PNP recorded a total of 231,856 violators in all the 1,243 quarantine control points.

At the same time, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said on Friday that President Duterte approved the recommendation to place Laguna province, Iloilo City and Cagayan de Oro City on modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) starting Aug. 16.

Metro Manila was earlier placed under ECQ until Aug. 20, while Bataan will be on the same restriction until Aug. 22.

Also placed on MECQ from Aug. 16 to Aug. 31 are Apayao, Ilocos Norte, Bulacan, Cavite, Lucena City, Rizal province, Aklan, Iloilo Province, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, and Cebu City.

To be placed on general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions in the same period are Ilocos Sur, Cagayan, Quezon, Batangas, Naga City, Antique, Bacolod City, Capiz, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Zamboanga del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Davao de Oro, and Butuan City.

To be placed on GCQ are Tarlac, Baguio City, Santiago City, Quirino, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Puerto Princesa, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, General Santos City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Dinagat Islands, and Cotabato City.The rest of the country will be on modified GCQ, the least restrictive of the quarantine classifications.