Key Issue/Problem

Individual Violators of the Community Quarantine Measures Amidst the Pandemic

Decision Criteria
 Relevance of the Information to the Key Issues. The information used should be
material to the case study to make sure the credibility of the analysis, conclusion and
recommendation made by of the researchers.
 Timeliness of the Related Articles/Study. The related articles/study should be published
recently or at most two year ago. It is to ensure that this case study is based on the current
information. Also, it is to further the reliability of the foundation of this study.
 Quality and Reliability of the Study. The researchers should identify if the articles,
research study, or any pertinent information used in the study are either based from a
methodological process or has enough reliable sources. It is to guarantee the
trustworthiness of this study.

Assumptions
 Many individual have broken the community quarantine protocols the authority imposed
in relation to the current COVID-19.
 Possible reasons as to why people violate the law: lack of food/financial support from
local and national government, boredom, and people aren't fully aware of the danger or
risk that the virus can cause.

Data Analysis
The Philippine government started to put Metro Manila under community quarantine on
March 15, 2020 after the first local COVID-19 positive case was recorded. This led to the
imposition of curfews in the cities. Then, on March 17, 2020 the entire Luzon (including its
associated islands) is placed under enhanced community quarantine that limits the movement of
people. It is due to the increase of COVID-19 cases within the country and to serve as a
countermeasure to prevent the spread of the virus. It restricted the movement of the people. Only
workers and establishments in critical sectors (hospitals, markets, food production and
preparation, banks, media) are allowed to operate. The imposed ECQ included checkpoints for
checking the motivation for travels, banning of public events and public transportation, closure of
commercial and retail businesses, closure of schools and universities, social distancing and other
prohibitions. Violation of such measures is punishable under Republic Acts (RA Nos. 11332 and
11469), Executive Orders (EO No. 112) and local ordinances.

This unforeseen event pushed the people to adjust in the situation. But as many follow the
implemented rules, there are still people who violated the said quarantine measures. The
Philippine National Police (PNP) reported more than 125,000 violators of the enhanced
community quarantine. The ECQ violators were either arrested, fined or warned. Furthermore, the
PNP arrested 713 individuals for hoarding and profiteering on essential items and medical
products. Over 9,000 violators were likewise apprehended for violating the suspension of public
transport services during the enhanced community quarantine. Meanwhile, the PNP-Highway
Patrol Group and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) issued 98 citation
tickets to private motorists and vehicles who violated road traffic and quarantine protocols.These
numbers were reported for the month of April and despite the penalties imposed, these numbers
are rising especially when the ECQ were lifted and changed to Modified ECQ and General
Community Quarantine (GCQ) this May for most of the cities and provinces within the country.

Out of these violators, there are reported known personalities and ordinary individuals who
became trending for being aggressive toward the law enforcement authorities. One of the known
personalities was Senator Aquilino Pimentel III who 'allegedly' violated the RA 11469 or the
Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. Pimentel had undergone testing for COVID-19 and was informed
that he was positive for the disease while he was at the Makati Medical Center, accompanying his
pregnant wife who was then scheduled to give birth. Another personality was National Capital
Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas. He celebrated his 55th birthday
on May 8 with at least 50 mostly NCRPO personnel before visiting as many as 6,000 families
around the metropolis to distribute food aid. It was said that the celebration was a mañanita (early
morning birthday serenade by the police) but pictures shown showed that the said celebration
didn't follow the social or physical distancing. Sen. Pimentel was summoned to explain while
NCRPO Chief Sinas and his men were charged with criminal and admimistrative charges but
weren't relieved from their posts.

Aside from these personalities, there are individuals or groups who became trending for
violating the community quarantine policy. One of these are the group of people, around 21
people, that held a lightning rally to demand relief aid in Quezon City. The Quezon City Police
District (QCPD) dispersed the rallyists and arrested them.Another individual who became viral
was a fish vendor named Joseph Jimeda who were arrested at once for violating enhanced
community quarantine rules. His family thought that he was missing until after a week or two,
they discovered his arrest. His violation became viral as netizens compared his case with NCRPO
Chief Sinas and his men, Sen. Pimentel and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)
deputy administrator Mocha Uson who were also criticized for violating ECQ rules. A foreigner
who resided in an exclusive village in Makati City also became trending online after he yelled
and cursed a policeman who tried to take down and arrest him. A video of a woman who has no
mask also got viral after cursing the policemen.

These are just some of the hundreds of thousands of ECQ/MECQ/GCQ violators in the
Philippines. According to the news, the most common reason of such acts was the need to work to
provide food for their families. While the national and local government are providing financial
aid and/or food packs to the less fortunate families, there are still families who didn't received
help or some received but not enough for a long period. Because of these, many Filipinos were
forced or have no choice but to violate the policy for their families. Another common reason was
the violators have no quarantine passes with them or have no masks while going outside.

Individual Violators of the Community Quarantine Measures Amidst the Pandemic

Decision Criteria
Relevance of the Information to the Key Issues The information used were material to the
Timeliness of the Related Articles/Study
Quality and Reliability of the Study
Analysis
study as they all pertained to the issue of
community quarantine violators. They all were
important and pertinent to support the
foundation of this study and therefore its
credibility.
All the articles used in this case study were
dated not more than three months ago. This
means that this study was timely and based
from current information.
This study was based from trustworthy sources
of information. All the used articles for this
issue are from news publications and websites.
Therefore, this case study was reliable and was
done with careful process.

Justification/Predicted Outcome or Recommendations

From the related article and information gathered by the researchers, it was confirmed the
assumption that many individual have broken the community quarantine policy that the
Philippine government imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Among the violators, there
are known personalities and government officials and executives. These violators were either
arrested, fined or warned by the authorities. However, many criticized the unfair treatment and
enforcement of the laws. Furthermore, the second assumption was also confirmed. Based on the
gathered data, the main reason of such violations was the lack of enough financial and food
support from the government but there were no gathered information regarding the other reasons
stated in the assumptions part such as the boredom and lack of awareness to the risk of
disregarding the imposed ECQ rules.

With this, the researchers recommended to the users of this study that the guidelines and
policies regarding the community quarantine are implemented for the safety of the Filipinos and
other individuals living within the Philippines and therefore should be justly enforce by the
authorities and abide by the people. The researchers also suggested to the users or readers of this
study to further search for more related information that would fill in the limitations of the study.

References
Online News Articles
Damicog, J. (21 March 2020). "Guevarra: Persons can be arrested for violating enhanced
community quarantine" Manila Bulletin. Retrieved from
https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/03/17/guevarra-persons-can-be-arrested-for-violating-enhanced-
community-quarantine/

Davila, K. (28 April 2020). "Makati cop defends action vs verbally abusive foreigner who
allegedly violated ECQ rules" ABS-CBN News. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/fMYt29ku86w

Go, V. (18 May 2020). "VIRAL: Detention Of Fish Vendor For ECQ Violation; Netizens Decry
Double Standard, Inhumane Law Enforcement" onenews.ph. Retrieved from
https://www.onenews.ph/viral-detention-of-fish-vendor-for-ecq-violation-netizens-decry-double-
standard-inhumane-law-enforcement

Lalu, G. P. (April 2020) "Manila barangays with most quarantine violators face ‘hard
lockdown’" Inquirer.net. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/newsinfo.inquirer.net/1261917/manila-barangays-with-most-
quarantine-violators-candidate-for-hard-lockdown/amp

Lopez, M. L. (08 April 2020). "Timeline: The COVID-19 Response Money Trail" CNN
Philipines Retrieved from https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/8/COVID-1-response-
money-trail.html

Marquez, C. (18 April 2020). "More than 125,000 enhanced community quarantine violators
logged – PNP" Inquirer.net. Retrieved from
www.google.com/amp/s/newsinfo.inquirer.net/1260913/more-than-125000-enhanced-community-
quarantine-violators-logged-pnp/amp

Nonato, V. (14 May 2020). "Enforce The Law On Yourself, NCRPO Chief Told After
‘Extraordinary Birthday Celebration’" onenews.ph. Retrieved from
https://www.onenews.ph/enforce-the-law-on-yourself-ncrpo-chief-told-after-extraordinary-
birthday-celebration

Pulta, B. (02 April 2020). "NBI to summon gov't execs over breach of quarantine rules"
Philippine News Agency. Retrieved from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1098665