No more warnings: On-the-spot arrest, inquest await ECQ violators

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa on Tuesday said that violators of the enhanced community quarantine would face immediate arrest and inquest proceedings instead of being warned.

In an online press conference, Gamboa said violators would face penalties under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, Republic Act No. 11332, or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act” or the Revised Penal Code.

“These violations of the law carry with it appropriate penalties and fines, but what will be more burdensome for violators are the tedious judicial process and the implications of a Derogatory Record to their personal criminal profile,” he said.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año meanwhile said the PNP deployed members of the Special Armed Forces in areas with “prevalent” number of ECQ violators to arrest violators of lockdown measures strictly.

“That’s why pati yung SAF ay dineploy na natin pero hindi naman ito sa entirety of the Luzon and National Capital Region. Sabi ko nga dun lang sa mga problem areas natin and the order is arrested anyone violating the quarantine,” Año said over ANC.

(That’s why even the SAF we deployed them but not in the entirety of Luzon and National Capital Region. As what I’ve said, only deploy them in problematic areas and the order is to arrest anyone violating the quarantine.)

“Mag-prepare tayo ng malaking kulungan and let them (quarantine violators) suffer the inconvenience. Kung pahintulutan gusto sana natin nakakulong yan  all throughout the quarantine para sigurado nang wag pamarisan ng ibang kababayan natin,” he added.

(Let us prepare a big detention facility and let them suffer the inconvenience. If we just let them be detained throughout the quarantine area so that others will not follow them.)

To date, the PNP has documented 136,517 violators of the enhanced community quarantine.