Enhanced disaster training for barangay tanods pushed to prepare for emergencies like COVID-19

Barangay tanods—primarily tasked to ensure peace and order at local communities—should also be trained to respond to disasters involving public health like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday.

"I think the most important here is to capacitate our barangay tanods in all types of disasters. Kasi kabisado nila yung for example, kung may sunog o meron baha pero itong ganitong pandemic is really something new for them," Gatchalian said in an interview on OneNewsPH.

"The local government units play one of the very important roles not only in the city or municipality level but all the way down to the barangay level cause we’re talking about hundreds or even thousands of persons under investigation, persons under monitoring, and potential COVID patients on the ground," he added.

The senator cited the practice in Valenzuela City where barangay police officers have been equipped with training and protective gear for their task in ensuring that enhanced community quarantine protocols are being observed by residents.

They were also provided with hazard pay as they do frontline work.

"If the barangay can make everyone stay home, that would be the best case for us," Gatchalian said.

Based on the Local Government Code, each barangay may have a maximum of 20 tanods but local officials may add more as deemed necessary to "carry out the purposes of the barangay government in accordance with the needs of public service," according to the Department of the Interior of Local Government.

Gatchalian said he is in favor of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon until April 30 and reiterated his call for mass testing.

"The next two-week extension is our last chance of curbing the spread of the virus. Last chance because from what I hear from our constituents, they cannot take in another extension because of economic and financial reasons," he said.

"The biggest intervention in the next two weeks should be mass testing at the ground level," he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte extended the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine until  11:59 p.m. of April 30 to curb the spread of COVID-19. —KG, GMA News