The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday, May 6 that it will harmonize the ordinances of local government units (LGUs) in order to intensify the operations against those who defy the implementation of the quarantine rules, particularly on the wearing of the face masks.
This, as President Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday night to arrest those who do not wear face masks or those who do not wear them properly while in public places.
“We have to talk with the LGUs and the Philippine National Police (PNP) about the presidential directive and we have to reconcile the presidential directive and the ordinances passed by the LGUs,” DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in an interview over ANC.
Malaya noted the DILG will have to discuss with the PNP to determine the parameters of the President’s recent order.
“I must emphasize that what is violated here are local ordinances that were issued by the local sanggunian (council). So we will take a look on how we can implement this directive of the president because this was just given to us last night (May 5),” he added.
He stressed that varying sanctions against violators of the face mask regulations are enforced by the different LGUs in the country.
In a May 5 briefing, Duterte ordered the police to detain persons not wearing or improperly wearing face masks in public places as arrests are only made at this time on violators of ordinances if the individual disobeys police authority.
“But in light of the President’s pronouncements, we might need to do some recalibration and make necessary preparations because if we do some arrests, we will also need to prepare our detention cells because there might be a larger number of people detained than before,” Malaya said.
While detaining violators in jails might pose health risks, Malaya said they will coordinate and create guidelines with the LGUs and the PNP to ensure the safe and efficient implementation of the President’s latest order.
“These guidelines will also prevent possible abuse of police authorities’’, he added.
In issuing the order, the President stressed that properly wearing face masks is crucial in preventing the upsurge of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the country. (Chito A. Chavez)