Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said local ordinances should be the basis for apprehending violators of health protocols during the period of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Speaking during the Laging Handa press briefing, Guevarra said the issue was taken up during a previous meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

Among the recommendations was to allow local government units (LGUs) to enforce their ordinances, with the possibility of imposing community services as penalties for violations instead of putting them in jail.

“We discussed that during the last meeting and I informed the IATF that the better legal basis for enforcing health protocols would be the local ordinances that have been issued by the local government units because these are very direct to the point,” he said.

“The statutes, like the mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases, there is a provision on non-cooperation but not exact as to the actual violation,” Guevarra added.

Guevarra said in the enforcement of ordinances, LGUs may want to consider the possibility of imposing community services rather than jail time or filing cases.

“Life is hard these days,” he said in Filipino. (PNA)