The Philippine National Police (PNP) is ready to assist local governments in enforcing local mandates arising from the declaration of Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila starting today (Jan. 3).
On the eve of its implementation, Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno announced the reimposition of curfew hours for all minors from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., as an added measure to monitor the movement of the younger members of the society who are vulnerable to viral infections.
“We saw this coming. The imposition of Alert Level 3 in NCR [National Capital Region] will definitely trigger local chief executives to lay down guidelines following the national protocol set by the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force]. We expect more LGUs [local government units] to announce soon,” PNP Chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos said.
The PNP’s procedure is to reprimand minors who are loitering outside during curfew hours. Maximum tolerance will be upheld.
“Every police unit, therefore, must be properly oriented with the local executive orders. They may differ from one another to a certain extent according to the wisdom of the local officials, but definitely they must synchronize with the national guidelines,” Carlos said, stressing the importance of the proper interpretation and enforcement of the protocol.
Notwithstanding the authority of LGUs to enforce their own ordinances and executive orders, the PNP will remain vigilant in upholding human rights and civil liberties that may be violated in the course of wrong interpretation of these local statutes.
The PNP will exercise flexibility to ensure that human rights are protected and the law is applied equally to all, the PNP chief said.
The PNP expects less people going outdoors, but still appeals to the establishments and LGUs to assist by deploying force multipliers if the need arises. (PNP-PIO) -ag
