ON Friday, August 6, our lives in Metro Manila will again be changed drastically, with the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the upsurge of COVID-19 cases. The restrictions have actually begun, with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local government units taking the lead in manning checkpoints at key municipal boundaries. The revert to ECQ will last until Aug. 20.
The problems brought about by the new restrictions, at a time when residents of the metropolis have already been accustomed to a semi-open economy, are doubly hard to solve.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar noted the inevitable — that the challenges will manifest — as he requested the public to exercise patience while cooperating with authorities as heavy traffic and long queues are expected with the reimposition of the quarantine control points at various entry and exit points of the National Capital Region Plus bubble, to include Cavite, Rizal, Laguna and Bulacan.
‘Eleazar has correctly anticipated that the quarantine control points will cause massive traffic build-up since people with their cars and motorcycles will insist on moving and doing what they usually do to earn a living and perform their personal errands.’
Eleazar has correctly anticipated that the quarantine control points (QCPs) will cause massive traffic build-up since people with their cars and motorcycles will insist on moving and doing what they usually do to earn a living and perform their personal errands. This is a reality that police should contend with, aside from the concomitant problems of frayed nerves, bad temper and street crimes. There is also the increased risk of infections for police and barangay men manning the checkpoints and the motorists, pedestrians and commuters, too.
Against this bleak background, General Eleazar’s admonition for people who can afford to stay indoors to remain inside their homes, to avoid adding to the congestion and chaos in the streets, is most welcome.
It is our luck that General Eleazar, when he was chief of NCRPO, also headed the Joint Task Force COVID Shied, which handled the police checkpoints then to enforce quarantine protocols. This experience prepared him well for the task at hand, and he is now ready to employ one of the strategies that proved useful then in managing vehicular traffic.
One of these strategies, according to Eleazar, is to allow all vehicles to pass the QCPs to avoid traffic and then doing random checks along mobile checkpoints set up in key Metro Manila areas. He then advised drivers and authorized persons outside residence (APOR) to prepare the needed documents and identification cards to support the necessity of their trips.
Let us see how well General Eleazar can draw from experience in managing traffic and checkpoints this second time around.
