Gov’t to resist through legal means ‘attempts to disrupt’ COVID-19 response —DOJ

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday the government would use all legal means to counter attempts to impede efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Guevarra issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night warned he would not follow court orders on quarantine protocols, saying he would insist on “what is necessary” to protect the public against the coronavirus.

“I take the President’s statement to mean that the government will resist by all legal means any attempt to disrupt the government’s all-out effort to protect the people from COVID-19 during this state of national emergency,” the Cabinet official said in a text message.

Duterte’s pronouncement came after two Cebu-based lawyers urged a trial court to declare the national government’s testing and quarantine protocols for returning overseas Filipinos and OFWs inapplicable in their province.

The petitioners argued the Cebu governor and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan have the inherent authority to respond to and protect the people of Cebu from a public health emergency.

They also said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF)  failed to properly consult the local authorities.

Guevarra said the IATF would be represented by the Office of the Solicitor General in the case.

“The filing of a case by the Cebu lawyers is most welcome. It provides a judicial forum for the settlement of an important legal issue that may crop up again in the future,” he said.

Duterte has also warned courts on several occasions not to issue stay orders on government infrastructure projects and the crackdown on vaping. — BM, GMA News