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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Drilon to PNP: COVID-19 patients not 'criminals'

Drilon to PNP: COVID-19 patients not 'criminals'

Published Jul 17, 2020 03:42 pm

Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon on Friday chided Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Archie Gamboa for likening the search for COVID-19 patients to hunting down criminals, saying such statements is “uncalled for.”

Senator Franklin Drilon (Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)

“I am deeply disturbed by the remarks of the PNP chief who likened the search for individuals afflicted with COVID-19 to hunting down criminals…Such remark is uncalled for. It doesn’t achieve anything but instill fear rather than trust in law enforcers and in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Drilon said in a statement.

“When a person suspected of contracting COVID-19 virus resists efforts to bring them to isolation facilities? What happens? Will there be a surge of ‘nanlaban’ cases again similar to thousand cases of nanlaban in the PNP’s Operation Tokhang?” Drilon pointed out.

“This COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue and not a simple law and order issue. We must change our frame of mind: the enemy here is the virus, not the people,” he stressed.

Drilon said Gamboa and other police officials ought to be more circumspect in their choice of words regarding the government’s supposed “Oplan Kalinga” program, given the public’s distrust on law enforcers.

“The individuals afflicted with the virus are not criminals and they should not in any way be viewed as and compared to criminals. That is very wrong,” Drilon stressed.

Gamboa, during his visit at the Police Regional Office 6 headquarters in Camp Martin Delgado recently, was quoted as saying that the plan “is like locating a criminal and when you have located one, you have to find his accomplices.”

Drilon said such kind of remark would instead push persons suspected of having COVID-19 to go into hiding.

The Senate minority chief explained that people who have mild symptoms are afraid to come forward out of fear they can no longer work and provide for their family and because of stigma and discrimination, and not because they are criminals.

“What we should do is to instill trust and confidence in the campaign against COVID-19. If the government can assure their safety and the welfare of their families, then maybe they will come forward and even volunteer to be placed in isolation facilities,” he said.

“Rather than threaten them with such remarks, let’s help them and their families,” he appealed to the PNP.

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