The Bacolod police have apprehended 19,408 COVID-19 health protocol violators, while cases will be filed against persons who test positive and refuse to be taken to quarantine facilities.
Executive Assistant Ernesto Pineda, head of the Extraction Cluster of the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), said Friday, June 4, that a 24-year-old female resident of Barangay Cabug who tested positive for COVID-19 and two close contacts refused to be taken to a quarantine facility.
He said they are filing police blotters against those who refuse to be extracted for proper legal action by the City Legal Office.
Non-cooperation on extraction is in violation of Section 9 of the Republic Act 11332, otherwise known as the “Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases”, he said.
Those refusing extraction and instead opt to stay at home will cause further harm by exposing their household members to the virus and spreading it to more people, he said.
Meanwhile, 19,408 individuals have been apprehended for violating COVID-19 health protocols in Bacolod City from January 1 to May 31.
P/Lt. Col. Lester Leada, head of the Operations Management Unit of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said that 6,536 were caught not wearing face masks, and 4,726 for no face shields, especially while riding in public utility vehicles.
He said 4,644 individuals were apprehended for violating the curfew ordinance, and 1,799 for violating the liquor ban.
Also apprehended were 1,703 for failing to comply with the one-meter physical distancing requirement, he said.
He said from May 17 to May 30 alone, the BCPO has issued 2,305 citation tickets to protocol violators in Bacolod.
The BCPO continues to raise awareness among grassroots constituents in Bacolod regarding the risk of getting infected with COVID-19, he said.
Part of their education campaign is to inform and to educate the public of the minimum health protocols, like wearing of face masks and face shields, and observing one-meter physical distance.
The BCPO from May 17 to May 30 also conducted 482 random checkpoints.
Leada said that the violators were not taken into custody but were given citation tickets and warned. They could not take the violators into custody as their detention facilities are already full, he said.
The BCPO is urging the public to abide by minimum health protocols to avoid getting fined or being made to do community service.
Those caught violating the health protocols are fined P200 each if they are from Bacolod, and P300 for out-of-towners, based on the city ordinance.*