Roque wants stiffer penalties vs quarantine, health protocol violators

QUARANTINE VIOLATION- A screenshot of a video uploaded on Facebook shows residents watching a street boxing match in Manila.

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday pushed for a national quarantine law that would impose stiffer penalties on violators of community quarantine and health protocols.

In his taped speech, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was looking for a suitable law to jail quarantine violators, prompting his chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo reckless imprudence as possible complaint.

“Well I think there should be a higher penalty to be imposed on individuals who will be responsible for super spreader events because as you know, pag ang kaso ay reckless imprudence, there’s hardly any imprisonment. And it is subject to settlement,” Roque said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque  (Screengrab from RTVM)

I would like to see or prefer to see Congress specifically enact a national quarantine law, similar to what other countries have that would spell out stiffer penalties for those in breach of quarantine protocols,” he added.

While Roque agrees that reckless imprudence along with local ordinances can be sufficient basis, he said the penalty would not be “stiff enough to serve as an example to others, to comply with quarantine regulations.”

File photo shows more than 150 persons held in Tondo, Manila for various health and quarantine protocol violations at the start of the COVID-19pandemic last year.  (INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON)

“There’s existing laws which you can apply for now but I want more effective laws that would provide for more stringent penalties so there would be more compliance for quarantine classifications,” Roque said.

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