After consulting Police General Debold Sinas, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, OIC PNP Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar ordered all chiefs of police of towns/cities at the boundary of the four provinces adjacent to Metro Manila to deploy police personnel that would guard entry and exit points of the National Capital Region Police Office+ Bubble,
The NCR bubble was thought of to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Lt. Gen. Eleazar also clarified that no Quarantine Control Points (QCPs) should be set up within the NCR+ Bubble, especially the entry and exit points of Metro Manila, except if they are in support of the QCPs that were set up at the boundaries of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal to ease traffic jams that may be created.
“There should be less restrictions for people inside the Bubble because they are considered as one big area. This is to ensure smooth access because workers of Metro Manila for instance live in these four adjacent provinces,” he said.
However, he quickly emphasized that checkpoints within the bubble are needed in support of the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. uniform curfew hours currently being implemented in Metro Manila, and in the conduct of pursuit operations against criminal elements.
“Checkpoints within the bubble are still necessary particularly during curfew hours. Beyond curfew period, they can observe, caution or accost those flagrantly violating health protocols but will no longer check motorists for movement restriction. Checkpoints are critical and important police interventions in case of dragnet operations if ever there are emergencies and hot pursuit operations,” said PLt, Gen. Eleazar.
On Monday, PLt. Gen. Eleazar and PLt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Deputy Chief for Operations and concurrent commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, inspected different QCPs to check on the progress of implementation of the NCR+ Bubble.
During the inspections, PLtGen Eleazar instructed the policemen manning and supervising the QCP to make sure that only Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs), including essential workers and those delivering essential goods, would be allowed to come inside and go out of the NCR+ Bubble.
For his part, PLt. Gen. Binag instructed the local police forces to ensure that minimum health safety standard protocols such as wearing of face masks and physical distancing are observed, especially those going inside the Bubble.
PLt.Gen Binag said the same QCPs were already set up at the major thoroughfares of the boundaries of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, boundaries of Rizal and Quezon province, boundaries of Laguna, Batangas and Quezon provinces, and the boundaries of Cavite and Batangas.
PLt. Gen. Eleazar, however, said that all the entry and exit points, especially small access roads, should also be guarded in order to achieve the real intent of the creation of the NCR+ Bubble.
“I have already directed the chiefs of police of these areas to coordinate with their respective Local Government Units down to the barangay level, to set up border control points in these access roads,” he added.
The NCR+ Bubble concept is meant to strike a balance between the need to revive the economy and in containing the spread of COVID-19 amid the upsurge of new cases in the past days.
On the part of the PNP, he said they will implement all the measures that are stipulated in the Resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), which was approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.