DILG recommends uniform curfew hours in Metro Manila as COVID-19 surges
By Chito Chavez
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has called on the Metro Manila mayors to impose a uniform implementation of curfew hours in order to avoid confusion among the public especially that regular crossing of borders among their respective residents are common for work and other personal matters.

For instance, DILG Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing said Local Government Units of (LGUs) could impose a 10 .m. to 5 a.m. curfew hours. At present, the local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) have varying curfew hours.
The DILG recommendation came as more cops are expected to be deployed on the streets of Metro Manila to help implement the quarantine measures that include observance of physical distancing and wearing of face masks.
Violators of the minimum health standards may be penalized with either fines or jail terms but Densing, in an interview over ABS-CBN, wants to include community service among the sanctions.
Dido Santos a businessman from Bulacan agreed with Densing’s recommendation fearing that the jail facilities will be too crowded with the huge number of minimum health protocol violators in the country.
“The concept of physical distancing will surely be violated with the congested jail cells as many physical distance violators cannot afford to pay the fine of, if I am not mistaken P1,000 for the first offense and P2,000 for the second and succeeding violations,’’ Santos said.
“I just hope that the penalties from the health protocol violators go to the coffers of the government. You cannot discount the possibility of corruption in these instances,’’ he added.
A survey conducted by the OCTA Research group revealed that less than 70 percent are complying with the physical distancing distancing rule and quarantine protocols amid the pandemic.
The same survey also disclosed that only 68 percent admitted observing social distancing when leaving their residence while only 64 percent said they are wearing face shields.
A total of 1,200 respondents were interviewed with a ±3 percent margin of error in the survey conducted from January 26 to February 1.