and VICTOR REYES
MARTIAL law is still not an option for now even as a total lockdown is an option that the Duterte government is looking into to control the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Malacanang officials said on Thursday.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, concurrent spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said that while people continue to go out of their homes in violation of quarantine rules, such does not warrant the declaration of a martial law.
“Hindi po. Kasi martial law, for you to use or declare martial law, ano po iyon, rebellion and invasion. So hindi po pinag-uusapan (No. Because if you use martial law, or declare martial law, there should be rebellion and invasion. So, it is not being discussed),” Nograles said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said a total lockdown is one of the options being studied by the government.
He said the decision whether to fully or partially lift or extend the Luzon lockdown or put the entire region under total lockdown will depend on the cooperation of the public and the coronavirus situation by April 30.
“Let us fulfill our obligation. It is just a few more days left in the ECQ, one week, just a few more sleep — let
us be patient,” he said, but stressed: “There is no decision on a total lockdown. That is fake news. What is the real news is it is being considered if the COVD-19 cases do not go down in our country.”
MORE SCANNERS
PNP deputy chief for operations and Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield chief Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said 200 scanners were distributed to Quarantine Control Points (QCPs) or checkpoints in Metro Manila to hasten the movement of health workers and frontliners during the Luzon-wide lockdown.
Eleazar said the move is part of the expansion of the Rapid Pass System, an online identification system using Quick Response or QC codes which the PNP started implementing earlier this month to address long lines of private and non-cargo vehicles at QCPs.
Under the system, cops use scanners to check QC codes instead of manually checking the identification cards and other documents of passengers inside vehicles passing through checkpoints. Persons who are authorized to go outside of their residences may apply online for a QR code, which can be printed or saved in smartphones for easy checking.
Eleazar said there the dispatch of the 200 scanners increased to 48 the QCPs which are now capable of quickly checking the codes.
The capable checkpoints are located in the cities of Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Taguig, Makati, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, Pasig, Marikina and Quezon.
“We have to clarify that the QR Code must be for each APOR and not for vehicles. For example, if the vehicle has three occupants including the driver, all of them must show individual QR codes,” said Eleazar.
To prevent the sharing of QR code by owner to another person, Eleazar, said the photo of the owner will reflect on the scanning machine.
STRICTER
The dispatch of the additional 200 scanners comes as the PNP vowed to stricter implementation of ECQ guidelines during the last two weeks of the measure.
“We are going to be more strict during the last two weeks of our lockdown,” said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who is a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
He reiterated people should stay at home when they have nothing important to do outside, wear face masks when they go out for essential missions and observe social distancing “so that that finally there will be a decline or zero case” of COVID-19 infection.”
Data from the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield show there were 119,061 persons accosted for violation of the ECQ for the past 30 days, from March 17 up to April 16.
Most of the violators are from Luzon where there were 72,530 violators, followed by Mindanao with 25,448 violators and Visayas with 21,083 violators. Of the total violators, 28,072 were arrested, 5,269 were fined and 85,720 were merely warned.
Año said he believes that the ECQ has been effective, otherwise there should have been already 50,000 cases and 7,000 deaths citing projections by experts if the government did not impose the lockdown.
As of yesterday, the Department of Health said there are 5,660 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country with 362 deaths.
“The lockdown is really working. We have to take this seriously this seriously this time. To our countrymen, a little more patience. Stay home, wear mass, that’s simple,” the DILG chief said.
DILG spokesman Jonathan Malaya said there was an apparent “complacency” on the part of the public since the extension of the ECQ, and “laxity” on the part of authorities manning the checkpoints.
“This reached the attention of the DILG and the Joint Task Force Covid Shield Gen. Eleazar already gave instruction to all checkpoint to strengthen the implementation of the Enhance Community Quarantine because we don’t want to waste the gains we achieved over the past weeks,” said Malaya.
“We need to be more be more strict now. This is not really the period for us to be lax but the period to be more vigilant…The last two weeks is very crucial for the success of our community quarantine,” he said.
