Military, police to enforce safe distancing in public markets

SOCIAL DISTANCING People buy food from a public market inside a covered basketball court in Rosario, Pasig City, on Black Saturday. —LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — If you see a policeman or a soldier telling you to observe social or physical distancing at your nearby public market, don’t be surprised.

The military and the police will now be deployed in markets to ensure that people steer clear of large crowds and keep a safe distance from each other to lessen the transmission of the new coronavirus.

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases said this would be one of the measures to ensure that distancing is observed in such enclosed venues.

“We will create joint social distancing teams made up of joint forces of the military and police. We will deploy them in public markets where there might be a repeat of what happened in Balintawak,” said IATF spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.

In a virtual press briefing on Sunday, Nograles said the uniformed personnel would be tasked to enforce strict social distancing measures among shoppers.

“We need the local government units in implementing and enforcing this, so it will be a joint team made up of the military, the police and with the assistance of our LGUs (local government units),” he said.

He made the remarks a day after the Quezon City government banned retail selling in the Balintawak public market over the weekend. INQ