No room for foreigner's arrogance in ECQ implementation –Lacson

Arrogance was not a welcome attitude amid the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine, which was put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Monday.

"Arrogance has no place in our country—especially so in a situation where either all of us win, or all of us lose to the COVID-19 threat," Lacson said in a statement.

The remark was prompted by an altercation between a police officer and a Spanish national at a high-end subdivision in Makati City over the weekend.

According to police, the argument stemmed from the failure of the foreigner's maid to wear a face mask while watering plants outside the house.

The foreigner chided the quarantine enforcers using expletives, authorities said. The confrontation was captured on video.

"Being an 'investor with 80 employees' as he claimed does not give the foreigner the right to confront and incessantly berate a police officer who is merely performing a risky duty in the manner that he did," Lacson said.

"The Bureau of Immigration may have to look into the matter. If a deportation proceeding is in order, they should act swiftly and decisively," he added.

Lacson also condemned the "unfair criticisms" hurled by netizens at the enforcers after watching only a portion of the incident through a video that went viral online.

For his part, the foreign national said that his maid told him that the cop was fining her P1,000 because she was not wearing a face mask. He added that the situation escalated when the police officer trespassed into his residence without any search warrant.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa ordered an investigation into the incident.

The foreigner and his maid would meanwhile face charges, according to police. — DVM, GMA News