CJ to discuss detention of quarantine violators with Año

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta vowed yesterday to take up with Interior Secretary Eduardo Año the continued detention of 1,728 people for mere quarantine violations, saying he did not like it.

“We will coordinate with Secretary Año,” said Peralta on discussing the matter through their Justice Zone that the Supreme Court (SC) shares with the Department of the Interior and Local Government ( DILG) and Department of Justice (DOJ).

Joint Task Force COVID Shield had reported that between March 17 and Oct. 21, a total of 1,728 people remain detained for disobedience to quarantine protocols and curfew policies.

Most of them – 1,597 to be exact – are detained in Luzon while 68 are in the Visayas and 63 are in Mindanao.

Peralta said he was instructing SC Administrator Midas Marquez to verify if cases against these 1,728 persons are already filed in the courts and if they can be released via recognizance or bail.

“If the cases are filed there (at a court) or if it is bailable and ( they) can be released on their own recognizance, they have to do something,” he said, adding that he did not like that these people are still being detained.

He explained that when a person is arrested without a warrant, the person must be delivered to judicial authorities within the periods provided under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

“If it is a light felony, the case should be filed within 12 hours, if there is probable cause,” said the Chief Justice.

There has been no feedback yet from the DILG regarding the issue.

Yesterday, Año said he supports the mayors in recommending the extension of the general community quarantine (GCQ) status in Metro Manila until the end of the year.

Speaking to reporters, Año said the GCQ should be kept, especially through the holiday season, to avoid mass gatherings and celebrations which heighten the risk of transmission of the coronavirus disease.

“I support that particular stand of the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) and the Metro Manila mayors,” he said, even if the daily number of new COVID infections has gone down to three digits in the National Capital Region.

“This (Metro Manila) is still the epicenter (of the outbreak) so we should not ease up especially now when Christmas is near,” Año said in Filipino.

“The tendency is for people to get together, to party. That’s the biggest danger if we let that happen,” he said.

He said the DILG wants to see COVID cases go down for the holiday season.

Año noted that despite the GCQ status, government continues to slowly ease movement restrictions on citizens to open up the economy, such as shortening curfew hours in most cities to four hours – from midnight to 4 a.m.

The government also allowed increased operational capacity of businesses, as well as expanding the age group of people allowed to go out of their houses from 21 to 59 years old to ages 15 to 65.

President Duterte is expected to announce quarantine classifications for NCR and the country before the end of the month.