THE deployment of Special Action Forces commandos in 10 key areas in Metro Manila has cut by half the number of violators of rules of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Task Force COVID Shield commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Sunday.
Eleazar said that since SAF commandos were deployed on April 21, the number of ECQ violators nationwide went down to 1,585 in April 23, from 3,306 violators nationwide recorded on April 22.
In Luzon alone, there were 2,313 violators reported on April 22 but the figure went down to 1,152 the following day.
Eleazar said the number of ECQ violators from April 23 to 25 did not breach the 2,000 mark (1,488 violators on April 24, and 1,811 on April 25).
“We attribute the significant decrease in the number of violators recorded in the past few days of the ECQ guideline to the deployment of our SAF troopers and soldiers and also when our HPG (Highway Patrol Group) started running after private vehicles,” Eleazar said.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa ordered the deployment of 12 teams of SAF commandos composed of 116 men to at least 10 key areas of Metro Manila to control the spikes in the number of incidents of ECQ violations.
The deployment of the SAF commandos also signaled the start of a stricter implementation of the ECQ throughout the Luzon region, with emphasis on Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog regions.
“Foremost, there will be no more warning for ECQ violators – instead arrest and inquest procedures will be applied to cases of violation of RA 11332 (Law on Reporting Communicable Diseases), as well as Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code (Resistance and Disobedience to a Person in Authority),” Gamboa said.
The 10 areas which saw the deployment of SAF troopers include the marketplaces in Blumentritt , Sta. Cruz, Manila; Libertad in Pasay City, Pasig Palengke, Napindan in Taguig City, Lower Bicutan also in Taguig City, Las Piñas City, North Caloocan, Alabang, Bagong Parañaque, and Marikina.
LGU TASK FORCE
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Sunday ordered local government units (LGUs) to form their own task force units against COVID-19 to improve government efforts in preventing the further spread of the infectious virus.
In a memorandum dated April 24, Año said the task force will be headed by governors in the provinces and mayors in the city and municipal level. It will be composed of a contact-tracing team, diagnostics and testing team, patient management and monitoring team, and a logistics and resources support team.
Año said the LGUs have the discretion to set the number of personnel that will compose each team “to fully discharge their roles and responsibilities to serve the needs of their respective constituents.”
“The LGU task force shall take the lead in all related situations and concerns and closely coordinate with the DOH-Center for Health Development,” Año also said in the memorandum.
He added LGUs may use available technology or application “that could assist in its actions relative to contact tracing,” and tap video teleconferencing and other media platforms for easy coordination.
LGUs are also encouraged to enter memorandum of agreements or arrangements with other agencies and organizations to improve the operations of their task forces.
Año said the task forces shall have four general protocols – tracing of people exposed to COVID-19 patients; isolation of people with confirmed, probable and suspected COVID-19; testing of individuals and their reintegration to society of the patients when they recover.
It will take the cue from from the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), which includes Año as a member.
“What we are doing at the national level will be done by the local government but it’s going to be focused (at the LGU level), that’s why they are forming four teams,” Año said, adding: “This mean the approach of the local government units is holistic because they are at the forefront. When this ECQ is lifted after May 15, they are going to have a big role in the monitoring (of COVID-19 cases),” he said.