Philippine Canadian Inquirer (National)
No more reported granular lockdown in PH: DILG
MANILA – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said there are no more reported granular lockdown areas in the country.
“Mr. President, from April 10 up to 16, for the first time there were no recorded granular lockdowns in the whole Philippines,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said during the Cabinet meeting with President Rodrigo R. Duterte which was aired by PTV-4 Monday night.
Last week, Año said six areas were under granular lockdowns with authorities continuing to intensify the minimum public health standards (MPHS) to prevent the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) transmission.
In the same period, he noted a 15.69 percent decrease in the number of violators who are not wearing face mask violations. There was also a slight increase in the number of mass gathering infractions in the Alert Level 2 areas.
Año said physical distancing offenses dropped by 47.12 percent or 3,002 violations.
He said the country’s city, municipal and barangay front-liners immediately enforced appropriate measures to implement the house-to-house vaccination campaign to give Covid-19 shots to unvaccinated persons, specifically the senior citizens.
To date, 750 out of the 1,634 local government units (LGUS) have implemented the houseto-house vaccination campaign as ordered by the President last April 5.
Año said the DILG is now validating reports on the number of persons inoculated in these areas of concern.
He also appealed to other LGUS to support the country’s inoculation drive to get the unvaccinated people receive the dose.
With regards to the country’s fight against illegal drugs, Año reported that anti-narcotics authorities have conducted 867 operations from April 10 to 16 where more than PHP150 million worth of shabu and marijuana were confiscated.
Government anti-narcotics operatives nabbed 1,227 individuals with three being killed during the week-long operation while 108 others surrendered to authorities.
On election campaign-related concerns, Año pointed out that 5,187 Commission on Election (Comelec) checkpoints manned by 39,887 police officers are in place nationwide.
With regards to the election gun ban, Año said as of April 18, some 5,809 firearms were surrendered while 2,536 gun ban violations were recorded.
“There were 2,013 firearms, 974 deadly weapons and more than 10,000 ammunition seized,’’ he said. ■