1,106 checkpoints to be set up in NCR, nearby areas during ECQ, says PNP

More than 1,000 quarantine control points (QCPs) will be established in Metro Manila and in nearby provinces while these areas will be under a week-long enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Sunday.

Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander Police Lieutenant General Cesar Hawthorne Binag said a total of  1,106 checkpoints and 9,356 law enforcers will be "pre-positioned" from 6 p.m. Sunday in the areas under the strictest lockdown.

"At 6 p.m. they will be pre-positioned, but the implementation will start 12:01 a.m. [Monday]," Binag told reporters in Filipino.

According to the PNP's presentation, here are the number of checkpoints and deployed PNP personnel for each region:

1. NCRPO  (National Capital Region Police Office) - 929 QCPs,  2,297 police personnel deployed
2. Police Regional Office - 3 (Central Luzon) - 162 checkpoints, 982 police personnel
3. Police Regional Office - 4A (Calabarzon) - 15 checkpoints, 498 police personnel

The government will place Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna under the strictest form of quarantine from March 29 to April 4 after the country registered more than 9,000 new COVID-19 cases a day in the past several days. 

Binag said some of the existing checkpoints during general community quarantine are included in the 1,106 total checkpoints to be activated during the ECQ period.

Personnel will also be dispatched to areas of convergence such as public markets, groceries and other businesses offering basic services where people are expected to gather to buy their essential goods, Binag also noted. — BM, GMA News