THE Philippine National Police (PNP) warned individuals and groups who put to risk the safety of the public against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by holding protest actions purposely to defy the quarantine protocols.
PNP Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar stressed that while the PNP respects the belief of some individuals and groups not to believe on COVID-19 and the vaccination, he said they should also learn to respect the belief of many Filipinos who abide with the minimum public health safety rules to ensure their protection from the deadly virus.
“We respect their beliefs, those who don’t believe that there’s COVID don’t believe in vaccines. But they should learn also to respect the belief of many Filipinos, including those with loved ones who died or infected with COVID, and more importantly the healthcare workers who are at the frontlines,” said PGen Eleazar.
“Holding protest actions to insist on what you believe in does not make it right. It is but plain and simple acts of defiance and irresponsibility because you are putting our personnel and other civilian population at risk of being infected,” he added.
Members of the group Gising Maharlika recently held a protest action at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila to oppose the vaccination program of the national government. Most of them were not wearing face masks in an apparent bid to emphasize that they do not believe in the coronavirus.
“Our police showed maximum tolerance and respect in your belief when you held that protest action without any protection. However, I must warn you that the police may not provide that same leniency anymore if you will continue to mock the belief of many Filipinos and that of policies regarding public health,” said PGen Eleazar.
PGen Eleazar said that the PNP will strictly monitor if there will be protest actions by those anti-vaccine groups and individuals that would violate the minimum public health standards. Local police chiefs are tasked to check the situation on the ground regarding possible mass actions wherein the protesters would deliberately not wear face masks and violate public health safety protocols.
The inoculation program of the government continues with the continuing arrival of vaccine supplies in the country. The Philippine government aims to increase its COVID-19 vaccination rate to 90 percent so the country could reach herd immunity early next year.
On Saturday, PGen Eleazar offered police camps and other facilities as vaccination sites as the national government starts to plan the inoculation of 12-17 years old population.
This, as the PNP is already nearing the completion of the vaccination of its more than 221,000 personnel.
“Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases, we continue to urge the public to keep to heart our fight against this pandemic because we’ve all been suffering for more than a year already. However, thousands of violators are still being caught during the past few days,” laments PGen Eleazar.
“But this will not discourage your PNP to continuously assist in the enforcement of these rules because this is one of the effective measures that we see to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus,” the Chief PNP added.