Law enforcers simplify guide on checkpoint exemptions

CHECKPOINT. PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar inspects a checkpoint in Bulacan on Thursday (March 19, 2020). The Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield), led by Eleazar, has formed a simple guide on checkpoint exemptions in line with the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. (Photo courtesy of Office of the PNP Deputy Chief for Operations via PNA)

MANILA – Law enforcement agencies comprising the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) have simplified guidelines for the smooth passage of persons exempted from the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, an official said Thursday.

“We immediately crafted this simplified guide due to observations that there appears to be confusion for both those tasked to implement the guidelines on the ground and the people themselves,” JTF CV Shield commander and Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for operations, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said in a phone interview.

JTF CV Shield is composed of PNP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fire Protection. It serves as the implementing arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID).

Based on the guidelines, exempted from the quarantine are workers in basic services and delivery of goods and other necessities, and authorized government officials.

The basic services are sub-divided into four category groups: medical, funeral, emergency responders, and security.

Workers of banks, delivery personnel, utilities personnel such as in telecommunications, water, and electricity are also exempted.

Only one person per household is allowed to buy basic necessities, the guideline said.

Skeletal forces of the Executive Branch, capital markets like Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Security Exchange Commission are also allowed to pass through checkpoints.

Senators and congressmen, and their chiefs of staff, Cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries and bureau directors will also be allowed.

Others exempted are top officials of the judiciary down to judges and prosecutors, governors, journalists, employees of the business processing outsourcing, employees of the critical transport facilities and outbound and inbound international passengers and drivers.

Eleazar said police commanders have been tasked to disseminate information and coordinate with barangays officials.

Copies of the simplified guidelines will also be posted at checkpoints and other areas to avoid confusion as some continue to defy the home quarantine.

He also assured the safety of the police and soldiers with medical gear and equipment at checkpoints.

Meanwhile, PNP chief, Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said he directed the dissemination of suggested special lanes at checkpoints.

In National Capital Region (NCR), Gamboa said police officers at checkpoints are on a 12-hour duty.

He said the three thermal scanners, with a camera worth PHP3.5 million each, were donated to the PNP.

“This is for our police officers not to have contact with those undergoing temperature test,” Gamboa said in a radio interview.

NCRPO chief, Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said has received three high-tech thermal scanners from a private company to boost the operational capabilities of its frontline troops deployed at checkpoints at the boundaries of Metro Manila.

Sinas requested support from its stakeholders for the acquisition of a high-tech thermal scanner to facilitate the smooth temperature checking of persons passing through our Quarantine Control Point (QCP).