By Ivy Tejano
DAVAO CITY - Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio called the attention of officials in Barangay San Antonio in Agdao District here, following a complaint lodged by some curfew violators that they were forced to swim in a drainage canal as punishment for their violation of quarantine restrictions.
Photo from Zosimo Uyanguren/ MANILA BULLETIN
“Is it humane to force someone to swim in a drainage canal? No, it is not humane. What is humane, is when you asked them to clean the drainage canal. Now, I am calling the attention of the people behind such idea,” Duterte said.
Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Director Police Colonel Kirby John Kraft told The Manila Bulletin that he has already directed the station commander of the Sta. Ana Police Station to investigate and identify those behind the harsh punishment.
“Medyo madilim kasi yung video (the video is not clear because it was already dark). We request the complainants to come forward and file their complaints here at the office so that appropriate actions will be taken,” Kraft said.
A certain Zosimo Uyanguren said in his Facebook post that curfew violators were directed to swim at a drainage canal.
He lamented that, with such a punishment meted curfew violation, they may not die of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but of leptospirosis that they could get from the canals.
Worse, Uyanguren said some violators were able to dodge punishment because they had connections with officials in the barangay. He also alleged that some policemen had a hand in beating them up.
But Kraft maintained that the police will never tolerate any of its members engaging in such inhuman treatment of violators.
The DCPO noted 3,258 various violators under the enhanced and general community quarantines implemented since March 15. Kraft said they have already filed 1,317 charges against some of the violators.