COVID-19 PANDEMIC

No provision on house-to-house search, Palace says as it defends new gov't strategy

Malacañang on Wednesday clarified that there will be no “house-to-house” search for COVID-19 patients, and that patients not qualified for home quarantine will only be reported and escorted to government quarantine facilities.

"We don't have a provision on house-to-house. They (patients) will have to be reported by the persons themselves, families, and the barangay,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview on ANC.

Under the new government strategy, mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases will only be allowed to undergo home quarantine if they meet three requirements: own room, own bathroom, and absence of vulnerable persons in the house.

Otherwise, they will be brought to government-sanctioned quarantine facilities where they are expected to stay for 14 days.

Amid fears of human rights violation, Roque said such strategy is provided for under the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act. He also said the State has inherent police power to protect the citizenry, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This has legal basis because of the state’s inherent police power. And it is a paid for vacation. It is not as if we are sending them to jail. Let us not make a big issue out of it," he said.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año's statement on Tuesday that police officers would go house-to-house to search for mild COVID-19 cases has raised concerns, with some — among them Senator Risa Hontiveros — even comparing it to Oplan Tokhang, the police force's intensified anti-drug campaign that human rights advocates are linking to thousands of deaths of drug suspects.

Roque, however, said the police will only provide support or assistance in the transport of patients and the implementation of lockdown in the affected area.

"We find it unfortunate that critics and detractors of the Duterte administration are using the important strategy of contract tracing to vilify the current government," Roque said in a separate statement.

"Let us not delve into unproductive speculation and instead help our communities to be COVID-19 free."

'Free board and lodging'

Roque stressed that in the quarantine facilities, the patients will be provided three meals a day, free WiFi connection, "and a graduation ceremony to boot."

He said the facilities are air-conditioned and equipped with doctors, nurses and other specialists.

"So please do not have the misimpression that it is not a medical facility," Roque said, adding staying at the facilities is akin to "free board and lodging."

Still, Roque reminded the public that asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients who will refuse to be isolated will not be tolerated by the government.

"Sentido kumon. It is a very communicable disease. If they refuse to be isolated, the State, of course, can isolate them," Roque added".

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that hospital confinement should be limited to severe and critical COVID-19 patients to prevent congestion of hospitals.

Likewise, Duque said that the government will have to maximize the use of the country’s community isolation centers and Mega Ligtas Quarantine facilities for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. At present, utilization rate of these facilities is at 30% and 50%, respectively.

At least four hospitals have declared that they have already reached their full capacity for treating COVID-19 patients: St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City, Makati Medical Center and The Medical City.

The Philippines has 57,006 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, 20,371 recovered while 1,599 died.

Of the over 57,000 COVID-19 cases, 91.5% or 32,057 are mild cases. — with Virgil Lopez/KBK/RSJ, GMA News