MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police logged over 108,000 health protocol violators within 12 days of the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila, it disclosed Thursday.
Police data recorded 108,777 violators from August 6 to 17 with a daily average of 9,065 violators.
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The PNP disclosed it also recorded a total of 312,434 violators within the so-called NCR Plus — Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite — with an average of 26,036 per day, while the PNP logged a total of 516,767 health protocol violators with a daily average of 43,064 nationwide.
Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the chief of the PNP, said over 79% of the violators were only given a warning.
“There are really more people who are allowed to go out now and are considered as 'authorized persons outside of residence' because there are more establishments that are open,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
To recall, the PNP on the very first day of its quarantine enforcement announced that 353 curfew violators it apprehended would face formal charges for breaching curfew hours.
Metro Manila went into ECQ starting Friday, August 6, in an attempt to curb the spread of the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Earlier Wednesday, the Metro Manila Council said that the capital region's 17 mayors voted to defer their recommendation on the next quarantine status to the national government's coronavirus task force.
Concurrent MMC chair Benhur Abalos said that regardless of the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force, Metro Manila's mayors would commit to tightening enforcement of quarantine protocols in their localities.
To date, health authorities have recorded 1.79 million coronavirus infections in the country, 111,720 of whom are still classified as active cases.