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DPA
Manila
Philippine police were warned on Saturday not to use force against violators of month-long lockdown restrictions aimed at stemming the country’s coronavirus outbreak, which has so far killed 68 and infected more than 1,000.
“That is very wrong,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said, following reports some officers and soldiers were hitting people with sticks or batons to force them back to their homes.
“They are probably just carried away by their emotions,” Ano said.
“In their zeal to implement the lockdown, their tempers flare. But we have been telling our enforcers to practice maximum tolerance.”
Detailing the alleged incidents on Saturday, Human Rights Watch said a man had been shot dead in the northern province of Bulacan after avoiding a checkpoint. Police said the man had shot at pursuing officers.
In a separate incident, local officials in a province south of Manila locked up five youths inside a dog cage after they were caught violating a curfew, the New-York based group reported. In the Manila suburban city of Paranaque, curfew violators were made to sit in the intense midday sun for hours, the group said.
Ano said investigations were being conducted into reports of abuse and maltreatment to ensure that those liable would be punished.
“Law enforcers should just tell people to go inside their homes and not loiter,” he said.
Officers were told to explain to people who resisted that they were being arrested for resisting, read them their rights and bring them to the police precinct.
The Department of Health reported on Saturday 272 new cases, the biggest rise in a single day, bringing the country’s total to 1,075. Fourteen new deaths were also reported, pushing the death toll to 68, while 35 patients have so far recovered. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the rising numbers were to be expected as more tests were being completed and more laboratories were made available to process them.
“Maybe this is just an artificial rise and cases are not really increasing,” she said.
“It’s only now that our testing capability is becoming stable.” The island of Luzon where capital city Manila is located has been under lockdown since March 16.
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29/03/2020
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