ILOILO City – Health protocol violators, especially those not wearing facemasks properly, will be “booked” but not detained in police stations, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Instead of putting them behind bars, Malong stressed, these violators would be “lectured” on the importance of wearing facemasks during this time of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The PRO-6 echoed the stand of Lieutenant General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, newly-installed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), on the recent directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to detain facemask rule breakers.
Violators will be brought to the police station for recording, and will be given masks if they have none, Eleazar said.
Violators can be held for a maximum of 12 hours while undergoing investigation and booking procedure.
However, if violators have pending arrest warrants, they would be detained.
Eleazar warned his men not to inflict harm on the violators; maximum tolerance will be observed.
However, Malong said, repeat offenders will be fined under the city executive order.
In this southern city, violators are either fined or render community service.
Specifically, City Regulation Ordinance (RO) No. 2020-085, which amended the penalties of RO No. 2020-061, mandates the wearing of facemasks or face covering in public during pandemic, and increases the fine and includes community service of eight hours for three consecutive days.
Non-wearing of face shields or eye protector has corresponding penalties, same with non-wearing of facemask: P1,000 for the first offense; P2,000 for the second offense, and P3,000 for the third and succeeding offenses and/or community service of eight hours a day for three days for first offense; eight hours a day for five days for second offense; and eight hours a day for seven days for third and succeeding offense.
“Actually, we have been doing that since last year, during the height of the pandemic. We invited them to the police station for record and before they were released, they were given lectures on the nature of their offense and about the dangers of coronavirus disease,” Malong said.
STICK TO CITY ORDINANCE
Meanwhile, the city’s compliance team will still follow the city ordinance in apprehending violators who do not wear or improperly wear facemasks.
According to Executive Assistant Jose “Boyet” Rico, also the head of the city’s compliance team, their group will continue their job but they will still follow the city’s “Facemask Ordinance.”
“We should follow the city ordinance kay ti wala pa man kita nakita nga layi nga the non-wearing of facemask is a criminal offense. So there is no basis for making arrests,” said Rico.
For Rico, there is no document or any executive order yet regarding President Duterte’s verbal order.
“Although the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) also made such statement, IATF is not Congress. Kami ‘ya sa compliance team will still respect the right of the persons. Indi sila ‘ya criminal,” he added.
He said they had an initial talk during the City COVID Team meeting yesterday at the city hall with ICPO director Colonel Uldarico Garbanzos.
Lawyers of the city government and the Iloilo City Police Office will still be meeting and possibly come to an agreement “kon ano gid ang nagakadapat.”
Earlier, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it will reconcile Duterte’s arrest order with the ordinances passed by local government units (LGUs) against those who violate the quarantine rules, particularly those not wearing facemasks in public.
The agency will convene with the LGUs and the PNP to ensure the proper implementation of Duterte’s latest directive, according to DILG undersecretary Jonathan Malaya.
“I must emphasize that what is violated here are local ordinances that were issued by the local sanggunian. So we will take a look at how we can implement this directive of the President,” Malaya told ABS-CBN News Channel.
He urged the LGUs to enforce different sanctions on those who defy the ordinances on wearing facemasks in public./PN
