Drilon wants repeal of Bayanihan law’s penal provision

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Friday said he wants to repeal a section of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act which penalizes quarantine protocol violations.

During a Senate hearing of the committees on finance and economic affairs, Drilon said he will support the proposed extension of Republic Act 11469 but he has "very serious" reservations about re-enacting Section 6.

"The violators here are treated like criminals. We must emphasize that the Bayanihan to Heal as One  law's principal purpose is to address an emergency, it is not basically a penal statute per se," Drilon said.

"My proposal is to delete the entire Section 6 (penal provisions) because the acts in this section are likewise punished in other laws," he added.

Drilon said quarantine violators must not be criminalized by the legislation.

"They are violating the rules because they are looking for food, looking for jobs," he said.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Archie Gamboa, on the other hand, said the police do not often use the Bayanihan law in charging violators amid the pandemic.

"If we run through the cases that have been filed against the violators of the quarantine rules, we have not actually used 11469, because I myself have actually dissected this (law) and true enough, we need the requirement of deputation of other government agencies for the PNP to function," Gamboa said.

"The usual recourse was RA 11332 or usually the Revised Penal Code when the offender has become disobedient," he added.

Gamboa said he will submit to the wisdom of the Senate if Section 6 of the Bayanihan law will be repealed.

Among the prohibited acts under it were spreading false information about COVID-19, hoarding, profiteering, manipulation of prices, and product deceptions.

Local government officials disobeying nationaal government directives in imposing quarantines may likewise be penalized under the said section.

Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Palace has given an assurance that it will certify as urgent the bill seeking to extend the effectivity of the Bayanihan law beyond June. — RSJ, GMA News