PNP to deploy more cops in public places

MANILA – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, on Sunday ordered all police chiefs to deploy more personnel in public areas to prevent mass gatherings that can be considered super spreader events amid threat of more infectious Covid-19 Delta variant.

Eleazar issued the order after Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said he will require the PNP and other law enforcers to strengthen their visibility in public places to ensure that health protocols are observed and mass gatherings are prevented.

He said police chiefs should determine how many more men are needed to secure public locations and other establishments in their areas of responsibility and deploy them immediately.

“This enforcement of protocols should be done jointly by the police and the local officials, especially barangay workers,” he said in a statement.

Año has warned that local chief executives will also be made answerable for the violations of health and safety protocols in their respective areas.

He said quarantine rules should always be strictly implemented after local cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant were recorded in the country.

Eleazar assured that the PNP would closely coordinate with the national government to determine how law enforcers could further strengthen the implementation of quarantine guidelines.