Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he would disobey any court order to suspend the enforcement of the 10-day quarantine protocol in Cebu after two lawyers from the province took the national government to court over the policy.

“I will not obey the courts in the matter now of management of the pandemic,” said Duterte on Monday evening, June 21, during a meeting in Davao City with officials of the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“I do not want anybody from any government agency or department messing up with a situation which I said is being managed because it is very dangerous to the country,” the President added.

No court has issued any order to suspend the implementation of the current rule that stipulated that persons arriving from abroad must quarantine for 10 days in a facility and do home quarantine for another four days.

However, two lawyers from Cebu filed a petition at the Cebu City Regional Trial Court on Monday morning to stop this quarantine policy.

The two lawyers called the national government’s rules “nonsensical” and insisted that a Cebu province ordinance imposing a shorter quarantine period and swab on arrival took precedence.

They partly echo the views of Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia who said the legal basis for sticking to the Cebu ordinance was the Local Government Code. Garcia, however, has distanced herself from the petition.

Duterte warns of ‘ruckus,’ ‘impasse’

Duterte, however, stood by the IATF’s quarantine policy, and warned courts that any order to stop the policy could result in a clash between the judicial branch and the executive branch.

“I advise the courts, huwag niyo na lang ilabas (don’t issue that order). ‘Pag ilabas ninyo (If you issue it) there will be a ruckus. I will just say I am here to protect the people,” said the President.

He maintained that the national government’s longer quarantine rules were backed by science and the advice of experts.

In that same meeting, doctors advising the task force insisted that the current rule is more effective in protecting the country against the Delta variant first found in India which is 60% more communicable than the Alpha variant discovered in the United Kingdom.

Dr Edsel Salvaña, one of these experts, told Duterte that swabbing on arrival, which is what Cebu province is doing, would be ineffective in detecting COVID-19 in travelers who got infected on the flight.

Compel Cebu’s obedience

The President now wants the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to compel the obedience of Cebu, embodied by its chief, Governor Gwen Garcia.

“So I leave the fate of Governor Garcia sa DILG. There are some mechanics that can be put in action to, well, compel obedience, not because we want to be mas marunong (know-it-alls) but remember I said, all our decisions are based on what the medical people say, period,” said Duterte.

The President did not elaborate on how exactly he wanted the DILG to deal with Garcia.

Still, the President, notorious for shooting from the hip when issuing threats, was sedate when he spoke of Garcia. The two met the previous week to discuss the policy clash.

“I see the wisdom in her view but I said the overwhelming notion among us in government and the medical doctors simply do not agree with her,” said Duterte.

But he acknowledged the great burden on Filipinos returning from abroad who have to pay for 10 days in a hotel, on top of losing income due to the pandemic. This was cited by Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo as one possible reason why Cebu flouts national quarantine rules. Returning Filipinos headed for Cebu, said Panelo, are lobbying to Garcia to ease up on the guidelines.

As a concession, Duterte said he would order that some of the unspent Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 funds be used “to pay for the expenses for sequestration of every returning Filipino.”

The government currently pays just for the quarantine expenses of returning overseas Filipino workers, not all returning Filipinos which include those who went abroad to travel for leisure.

Cebu’s refusal to heed national quarantine protocols prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to order international flights bound for Cebu rerouted to Manila from May 29 to June 12. – Rappler.com