Authorities hit for cordoning houses of COVID patients in Aklan

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Netizens hit authorities who cordoned off houses of COVID-19 patients in Lezo, Aklan.

A video, which has now gone viral, was posted by a resident showing their fence and gate surrounded by yellow caution tape.

Persons in police uniform were also seen walking around the neighborhood.

In a telephone interview, Colonel Ramir Perlito Perlas, Aklan police chief, confirmed that the persons seen walking around the “cordoned property” were local police.

But he denied that the officers placed the barrier tape in the area.

“It was from the MDRRMO (Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office). Our police were tasked to escort basi may resistance daw from the owner of the property,” Perlas said.

Because it was a “yellow line,” people thought the tape was the police line or barrier used in crime scenes, he said.

Perlas claimed that the barrier tape did not bear the words “Do not cross police line” as the MDRRMO used a “caution tape” which is usually used in construction areas.

Perlas said he immediately called Lieutenant Jose Iturralde, Lezo police chief, about the matter.

“It was apparently the decision of the Municipal Inter-Agency Task Force (MIATF) that decided on it. Nag-sunod lang ang mga pulis being a member of the IATF. The police did not decide on it,” he said.

Nevertheless, Perlas ordered Iturralde to discuss the issue with the local IATF.

“I told him to kindly go to your IATF and tell them to reconsider their decision because it might violate some other laws,” he said stressing that police “should be acting within the bounds of the law.”

Iturralde was instructed to ask the MIATF to study their decision and if they have legal basis in imposing the barrier.

“But of course, I can’t dictate the IATF. It’s not for me to dictate on them. Whatever they decide, I would respect their decision and probably support it if it’s legal,” he said.

Perlas said he did order the local police in Aklan to place barrier tapes around properties of COVID-19 patients.

Several COVID-19 patients lamented the use of barrier tapes outside their house.

Claiming that it was discriminatory, they said their residence looked like a crime scene.

Meanwhile, Mayor Lynette Fernandez of Lezo has yet to issue a statement on the matter.

This is not the first time that this kind of issue erupted since the pandemic began.

There were also reports that authorities or barangay officials cordoned the properties owned by COVID-19 patients in Cebu and Antique even earlier.

But the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has already ruled that this move is discriminatory, as there are other ways to warn people.

It was gathered that Aklan province, just like the other areas of Western Visayas, is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. In the past two weeks, it reported around 80 new cases a day.

On July 3, it hit a three-digit mark with 103 cases.

The province logged 114 cases the following day.