By Aaron Recuenco Operatives of the police’s Highway Patrol Group (HPG) have started conducting mobile checkpoints on Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) and other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila amid reports of violation of home quarantine and social distancing rules of private vehicle owners. At the same time, Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, tasked the HPG to implement ‘Oplan Habol’ which is aimed at running after motorcycles with backriders and private cars with occupants who are not included in the list of those exempted from the home quarantine. National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) P/Maj. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar (PHOTO FROM PIO NCRPO / FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Eleazar said the stricter rules on private vehicles in Metro Manila stemmed from the sudden presence of huge volume of cars in the past few days amid the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). “Maybe some of them took advantage of the zero traffic situation in Metro Manila to take some road trips around Metro Manila to fight boredom due to the ECQ. We would like to emphasize that this is a clear violation of the home quarantine and social distancing rules so we would like to appeal again to the public not to do this and instead, stay in your houses,” said Eleazar. “Currently, there are no QCPs (Quarantine Control Points) along EDSA so I tasked HPG to conduct checkpoints not only along EDSA but also in other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila to check on private vehicles if there are UPOR (Unauthorized Persons Outside Residence) occupants,” said Eleazar. He said the HPG personnel manning the checkpoints within Metro Manila were tasked to check if the driver of the private vehicle is allowed to go outside his house under the ECQ guideline. He added explained mobile checkpoints were established on EDSA and other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila in order to ensure flexibility on the part of the HPG personnel. He said mobile checkpoints are easy and fast to set up anytime and anywhere in Metro Manila, depending on the presence of huge volume of vehicles in particular areas at a given time. For his part, HPG director Brig. Gen. Eliseo Cruz vowed that his men will be strict in enforcing the home quarantine and social distancing rules on private vehicles. “If there is at least one UPOR as passenger or the only occupant is the driver but he is also UPOR, we will arrest them,” said Cruz. Cruz added that the same applies for motorcycles with backriders, what with viral video in the social media showing a motorcycle with a backrider speeding off after being flagged down by a traffic enforcer in Metro Manila. Eleazar said one of the strategies they is to deploy motorcycle-riding HPG personnel. “Aside from mobile checkpoints, our HPG personnel will implement Oplan Habol. Under this, HPG riders will look for areas where there are a lot of private vehicles and check if the vehicle has more than one occupant,” said Eleazar. “These HPG riders will serve as a standby force. They will immediately proceed to the area where there are a lot of private vehicles and they will also run after private vehicles which are avoiding the mobile checkpoints,” he added.