The Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) has expressed full support for President Duterte's arrest order against barangay chairpersons who will fail to prevent or act appropriately on mass gathering activities in their respective jurisdictions.
However, LnB national president Eden Chua Pineda appealed to law enforcers to exercise due process against the concerned village chiefs when making the arrests.
"Let us qualify it. If it is true that the barangay chairman is present in the site of that activity without IATF protocols being observed, then the barangay official who was there should be arrested since the problem cannot be resolved if we will not cooperate,’’ Pineda said in an interview over dzMM's Teleradyo on Thursday night, May 27.
Pineda also urged the public to acquire barangay permits if they have plans to conduct social activities so village officials will be able to monitor them.
The LnB chief stressed that the barangay chairpersons can only do as much which makes it necessary for law enforcers to exercise due process.
“If the activity is too far from the area of your jurisdiction, and the barangay chairman is unaware of the event then he should be given due process if he gets arrested. Investigate everything because we also need the police's assistance,’’ she added.
On May 26, an infuriated Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to arrest negligent barangay captains if mass gatherings happen in their area of jurisdiction.