PR
In coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by General Archie Francisco Gamboa and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Felimon Santos, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield will be deploying 348 policemen, including Special Action Force (SAF) commandos, and soldiers to Navotas to reinforce the local police in implementing the lockdown order of the City Government due to the rising number of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) cases.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the JTF COVID Shield, said he had already discussed with Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco the measures and other strategies that would be enforced in the City possibly starting July 16 to contain the movement of the local residents.
Secretary of the of the Interior and Local Government (SILG) Eduardo Año earlier instructed the JTF COVID Shield to coordinate and assist the Navotas City government in the implementation of the lockdown order.
SILG Año said compliance with the lockdown rules is necessary to ensure that transmission of the virus is contained while other government agencies are busy identifying, isolating and treating those who have been infected.
Eleazar said a total of 100 policemen will come from the Northern Police District District Mobile Forces Battalion, another 100 personnel from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Regional Mobile Forces Battalion as approved by NCRPO Director Maj. Gen, Debold Sinas, 81 from the Special Action Force (SAF) as ordered by SAF Director Maj. Gen. Amando Clifton Empiso, 42 from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group as approved by Maritime Group Director Brig. Gen. Jireh Fidel, and 25 soldiers from the AFP Joint Task Force-NCR as approved by JTF-NCR commander Brig. Gen. Alex Luna.
“Our task is to contain the unnecessary movement of people and keep all residents at home except for the medical frontliners and other people who are authorized to go out. The other task is to ensure that APOR (Authorized Persons Outside Residence) shall follow the health protocols,” said PLt. Gen. Eleazar.
Based on the latest data, Navotas City has almost 1,000 cases with more than half of them are active cases. At least 325 cases have recovered while 59 residents succumbed to the infection. The 220 beds set up by the Navotas City LGU for its infected residents have already reached the full capacity.
PLt. Gen. Eleazar said that based on his discussion with Mayor Tiangco, workers will still be allowed to continue with their job. A quarantine pass will be given to each family but they will only be allowed to go out of their house based on the schedules that will be prepared by the LGUs, especially the barangay officials.
Empiso said they will also be deploying several vehicles that will be utilized for the conduct of checkpoints and patrol.
“Our contingent is now on standby at Camp Bagong Diwa (Taguig), and ready for deployment at any time,“ said Empiso.
Most of the policemen will be deployed to set up checkpoints and conduct regular patrol to ensure that there will be no unnecessary movement of local residents.
Personnel from the PNP Maritime Group, on the other hand, will be deployed to regularly patrol the coastline of Navotas.
PLt. Gen. Eleazar said the deployment of more policemen and soldiers in localized lockdown areas and those under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is part of the medical solution as it is focused on prevention of the transmission of the coronavirus.
