Olongapo mayor defends ‘angkas’ pass
OLONGAPO City Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. is ready to face the charges hurled against him by the Department of the Interior and Local Government ( DILG) BEFORE THE OFfiCE OF THE OMBUDSMAN REGARDING violations of quarantine protocols.
Paulino said in a live video feed aired through Facebook on Wednesday, he would gladly explain and clarify the issues raised against him.
The Olongapo mayor issued
Executive Order 54 authorizing a quarantine pass, referred to as an angkas pass, that would allow backrides on motorcycles among relatives living in one household in late May.
“We have explained this to the DILG, but we were told that this should not be done because it would promote confusion because the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has strictly prohibited this to maintain physical distancing measures,” Paulino explained.
He said he withdrew and did not implement the executive order on June 5 after President Rodrigo Duterte addressed the public reiterating these quarantine measures.
The DILG, however, has filed a case against Paulino.
In a press statement issued by the DILG on Wednesday, DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya explained that the complaint was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against Paulino for various offenses on quarantine guidelines.
“We are dismayed because as the local chief executive of Olongapo, he should be the first to follow the guidelines issued by the national government,” he said in a statement.
Paulino issued local policies that violated national enhanced community quarantine protocols that were enforced by the IATFEID, Malaya continued.
Upon the directive of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, the mayor was officially charged for the various violations on the quarantine rules of the national government.
Malaya bared that the DILG first issued a show cause order in April against Mayor Paulino for organizing a mass gathering in the distribution of Social Amelioration Cards in the first tranche of the Social Amelioration Program.
“In that instance, we already admonished him and warned him to fully comply with IATF regulations, otherwise we may be compelled to charge him,” Malaya said in a statement.
Despite the earlier warning, Paulino again violated IATF-EID regulations when he issued Executive Order 54, allowing backriding in the municipality of Olongapo.
Paulino said he deemed it necessary to allow backrides among two family members from one household for easier mobility across the municipality and a village certification was first issued before an angkas pass was given to residents.