With more businesses expected to open, the Joint Task Force (JTF) Covid Shield on Monday assured additional law enforcers will be deployed to ensure business owners and customers are complying with health standards against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
JTF Covid Shield commander, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, urged the police commanders to anticipate more people who would go outside as additional business establishments are expected to resume operation starting Sept. 1.
In a Laging Handa briefing on Monday, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said testing and tutorial centers, review centers, gyms, fitness centers, personal grooming, and pet grooming will reopen.
“The easing of restrictions is for the sake of our economy. It does not mean that we should also lower our guard. The threat of coronavirus infection is still there so we should always be alert and continue doing our mandate of protecting the public from virus transmission,” Eleazar said in a statement.
Eleazar said local police commanders should also closely coordinate with their respective local government units (LGUs) in order to come up with an operational guideline for the enforcement of the quarantine rules based on the existing LGUs’ rules and regulations.
He explained that owners and store managers of the business establishments that are allowed to operate starting on Sept. 1 must also be reminded all the time to observe the minimum health safety standard protocols for their employees and customers.
Eleazar also explained that part of the anti-Covid-19 measures that should be implemented is the strengthening of police visibility in business districts, especially during the expected opening days as people would flock in the area to avail of the services.
“Local commanders can also tap the barangay officials for the deployment of barangay tanods as force multipliers, or the Public Order and Safety Personnel of cities and municipalities to augment the local police,” said Eleazar. “We should anticipate all the eventualities that may occur and these must be included in the planning and implementation in order to ensure that the quarantine rules are observed.”
He also urged the public not to go to other areas to avail of the services of the business establishments that would be allowed to re-open if there are the same establishments offering the same services in their respective communities. (PNA)
