More than 69,000 individuals violated the rules and guidelines under the enhanced community quarantine, according to the data released by the Philippine National Police on Monday.
Based on the data collated from March 17 to 29, a total of 69,989 violators were reported nationwide, 39,940 of which were from Luzon while 30,149 were from the Visayas and Mindanao.
The entire Luzon was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine on March 17 to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Several provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao followed suit due to the threat of coronavirus pandemic.
Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for operations and commander of the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) revealed that 16,988 of the violators were from Metro Manila.
He said the PNP has deferred on its earlier decision to be lenient on curfew rules because of the rising number of ECQ violators, Manila Bulletin reported.
“Based on our assessment, the number of curfew violators will only further increase if the government will be lenient to them,” he stressed adding that the police will intensify its offensive particularly to repeat offenders.
While most of the offenders were reprimanded Eleazar disclosed that 17,039 of the violators were apprehended while 3,777 of them were fined according to the penalties set by their respective local government units on curfew.
The authorities also apprehended 6,837 public utility vehicles who disobeyed the quarantine guidelines.
According to Eleazar around 593 people were arrested for hoarding, profiteering, and manipulation of the prices of medical products necessary to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
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