By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Both chief executives of the city and province of Iloilo raised legal questions against the statement of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año on imposing stricter penalties for quarantine protocol violations.
Año on Thursday proposed “stiff” penalties for persons who violate physical distancing and fail to wear masks while in public areas.
The penalties include imprisonment of up to one month and hefty fines.
Año raised the proposal in a virtual meeting with local chief executives in the country.
In an interview with Aksyon Radyo, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said the proposal was “impractical”.
“For me, firstly, [is] practicality. We have a population of, based on my estimate, 600,000. If we arrest only five percent, or 3,000, where do we put them? We don’t have sufficient detention facilities. Based on the ordinance, they should be in the city jail. That should be for those areas which are having difficulty containing the virus, like Metro Manila and Cebu,” the mayor said.
Treñas said that Ilonggos are “obedient enough” to follow quarantine protocols.
“For me, Ilonggos are obedient. Some of them forget to wear masks. But if we remind them, they will comply. I don’t agree with jailing violators for lack of sufficient detention facilities and we don’t have appropriations to feed them for 10 to 30 days. The enemy is the virus, not the people. We should look at things correctly. If we jail the people, the virus will disappear from the streets because it is now in the jails,” he said.
The mayor hopes that the Interior Department would understand his position.
ILOILO PROVINCE
In a press conference, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. struck a similar tone by questioning if the penalties are prescribed by national laws.
The governor said that penalties for quarantine rule violations should be left to the local government units.
Provincial Ordinance Nos. 224 and 225 impose penalties for violation of social distancing guidelines and non-use of face masks, with fines up to P2,000 and up to 10 days imprisonment.
“Is that in the law? Because for us here, [penalties] are primarily provided for in our ordinance, we have fines. I’m not sure if we have a statute or a national law which provides for that. For quarantine procedures, we have national laws, but not as detailed as providing for face masks and curfews because those are pertained to the powers of the local government units,” Defensor said.
Defensor said residents of the province have been faithfully following the ordinances, based on his own observation.
“Right now, what do we do? We still have to follow the ordinance, because that is the law of the province. Under our ordinances, we have fines. I haven’t seen any problems here regarding face masks. When I go around, people are using face masks. Our mayors and barangays are also implementing our ordinances,” the governor said.
