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PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE DURING

IMPLEMENTATİON OF HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS:
A CASE STUDY

A Case Study
Presented to the Faculty of the
College of Criminology
Misamis University
Ozamiz City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Science in Criminology

by

Macala, Gregorio Jr M.

January 2022
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Abstract
Police agencies all over the world are facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19
pandemic. These challenges are at the same time related to the complexity and the large scale of
the activities that the police are asked to perform and to the changing nature of the police role
during the pandemic. Although health workers are in the frontline, the police should be involved
in every stage of the response and remain the main interface with the population to answer their
questions and solve their problems. Police services are overwhelmed by extra missions due to the
emergency: enforcing public health orders, including quarantines or travel restrictions, securing
health care facilities, controlling crowds, assisting with handling mass fatalities, protecting
national stockpiles of vaccines or other medicines and even public education and risk
communication. The Philippine National Police has faced an extraordinary battle this year
including against an unseen enemy, the COVID-19 pandemic. The PNP together with the Local
Government Units enforce the health and safety protocols namely social distancing, wearing face
mask and face shields, washing and sanitizing hands, limitations of gatherings, banning of
travelers, community quarantine measures, etc. Hence, this study aimed to identify the problems
encountered by the PNP upon its implementation of the measures. This study found out that the
PN has faced problems such as through the physical assaults on them and through the exposure
to the virus during the course of their exposure to the affected people. Numerous violators have
been recorded all over the country and there is a continuous spike of COVID cases among the
PNP personnel. The findings of this study recommends that the national and local government’s
policies related to COVID-19 should be clearly communicated to all local law enforcement
officers.
Keywords: community quarantine, safety protocols, Philippine National Police, policies,
violators
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Introduction

The coordination of the response is not spontaneous as the police may not have

previously worked with most of the agencies with who they should coordinate their response

plan, including public health, medical officials and other critical infrastructures providers, such

as telecommunications, power and water. Moreover, the use of the military to enforce the

emergency measures in many countries brings challenges concerning the relationship between

the police and the military in terms of jurisdiction and responsibility. While the role of the police

during security threats and emergencies is generally well defined, it is far from clear during a

COVID-19 pandemic, adding another layer to the complexity of the police response. Actually,

unlike public health services, most of the national response plans to COVID-19 don’t consider

the role of the police or only make a little mention of it in wide and general terms. Generally, it is

mentioned that, in addition to the usual duties, the police have a role in supporting the fight

against the disease and protecting people from contamination. This secondary role attributed to

the police can also be seen in the additional financial and other types of support reserved to the

police by the government as compared to other agencies, particularly those working on the health

response.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the operational landscape of

policing. The police have been on the front lines of response, tending to medical emergencies

and managing the social consequences of COVID-19, while at the same time providing safety

and reassurance to their communities. Because of these considerable changes, the pandemic has

significantly impacted law enforcement agencies and their operations (Lum, Maupin and Stoltz,

2020). During the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, there are many needs arising at police

agencies around the world. With the pandemic, protectors are also vulnerable and need
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protection. Police are exposed to a unique set of challenges in their day-to-day duties that can

increase the risk of health concerns from occupational stressors, including operational and

organizational stressors. Just like many other front-line essential services, police have had to

make changes and implement processes to allow front-line staff to provide the services citizens

deserve, all the while keeping themselves safe in performing their duties. Police work is very

rewarding and noble, yet challenging and stressful at times. The added pressures police officers

face due to COVID-19 have certainly added to their level of stress. For that reason, many police

service organizations have implemented more support initiatives to ensure that their members are

mentally prepared to deliver on their mandate in our current situation and beyond (Mehdizadeh

and Kamkart, 2020).

In response to the coronavirus pandemic the government has introduced public health

regulations with unprecedented reach into our everyday lives. The scope of the regulations

suddenly made potential offenders out of large numbers of otherwise law-abiding people who

were willing to bend or flout the rules. Wearing of face masks and face shields and physical

distancing should be strictly imposed in all LGUs and violators should be fined based on the

prevailing ordinances. Temperature checks and filling out contact tracing forms manually should

also be a must in all establishments and work places (Police Foundation, 2020).

As the national and local governments declare shelter-in-place orders and shut down non-

essential businesses, law enforcement officers will need to enforce these rules and disperse

crowds of people at gatherings and other events. There is some apprehension that enforcement

actions could require detention and fines, which could raise additional public safety and civil

liberty concerns. Local government officials’ understanding of the critical role law enforcement

plays in their community will shape the effectiveness of the local government’s plan to slow
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down the spread of the COVID-19 virus (Hapal, 2021). Police services play a crucial role in

contributing to the effort to control the disease, promoting safer communities, and fighting

criminals who take advantage of the outbreak. Criminals are exploiting the current situation to

find new ways to make money. They are increasing and diversifying their activities through a

wide range of crimes and scams which exploit the fear and uncertainty surrounding the virus. In

particular, an increase in counterfeit medical products, fraud and cybercrime have been seen

(Interpol, 2020).

Citizens have seen more police officers on the streets and around communities, attending

to persons without masks in public space, controlling traffic at checkpoints, monitoring the flow

of people at vaccination sites, assisting teams with food rations delivery at people’s doorsteps,

and patrolling towns and cities to ensure that the public health safety order is being adhered to.

These are some of the tasks among many others that police officers carry out every day in the

field. Meeting high operational demands, police officers have been engaged in 24-hour shifts

since the government response to the COVID-19 outbreak was strengthened. Police officers

perform those duties in high public health security demand, operate from various work bubbles

to ensure continuity of service delivery and protect public order and security of neighborhoods.

They sacrifice time away from their families and loved ones to protect them from potential

infection risks (UNDP, 2021). The Philippine National Police (PNP) also intensified police

visibility as more areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) are expected to be

relegated to general community quarantine (GCQ). hilippine National Police (PNP) will intensify

police visibility as more areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) are expected to be

relegated to general community quarantine (GCQ). The increased presence of police personnel

aimed to thwart criminal threats that are expected to surge under new normal or less-stringent
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GCQ. In addition, mobile checkpoints and random checking of private vehicles by personnel of

the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) who are also expected to deploy motorcycle-riding officers

(Caliwan, 2021).

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has also directed all local

government units (LGUs) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to implement a crackdown

on quarantine violators and intensify the enforcement of minimum health standards in all

barangays as new COVID-19 cases has reached more than 3,000 cases a day for three days now.

The PNP strictly enforced the prevailing curfews imposed by LGUs in certain areas which has

been adjusted by some to 10 pm - 5 am and that, violators were fined or otherwise penalized for

violating all health protocols (DILG, 2021). Furthermore, the Philippine President, during his

presidential speech, wanted the police to oversee hotels being used as quarantine facilities to

prevent individuals undergoing quarantine from skirting government-mandated quarantine

guidelines. Hotel owners and personnel have no authority or power to physically stop individuals

from leaving the facility if they want to, government could use the implementing rules and

regulations of the Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases

and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act to enforce quarantine guidelines at designated

facilities. They need to work with their law enforcement leaders to make sure officers have clear

guidance on the proper procedures regarding the isolation and detention of infected community

members. Law enforcement officers should be provided information about how to detain or

isolate a person who is perceived as having an infectious disease, including how to handle

situations when a person fails to comply (PCOO, 2022).

The role of police officers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is challenging,

faced with the difficult task of keeping communities safe and preventing the spread of COVID-
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19 while putting their physical and mental health at risk (Edwards & Kotera, 2021). The

Philippine National Police (PNP) continues to see a spike in coronavirus infections among its

ranks. the PNP Health Service said that 436 new cases raised the active case tally to 1,884 out of

a total of 43,603 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic (Caliwan, 2022). This situation

only proves that PNP is not exempted from the risk of the virus. Despite the services rendered

and intensified by the Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel in the country, they still have

recorded more than 50,000 violations of minimum health protocols during the two-week

implementation of enhanced community quarantine in the national capital region and four nearby

provinces. The failure to wear face shields and face masks topped the list of the most violated

health measures, with 26,939 and 14,122 violations, respectively. In addition, 6,603 persons

were warned, fined, and arrested for violating Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory

Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act (CNN, 2021).

On a positive note, crime incidents in the country dropped by 47 percent as community

quarantine measures in the country amid the Covid-19 have been in effect. There 31,661

incidents of focus crimes recorded between Sept. 15, 2019 to March 16 2020, the figure dropped

to only 16,879 from March 17 to Sept. 16. The decline in crime incidents in the country

translates to an average of 92 cases per day during the 184 days of the community quarantine

compared to an average of 172 cases per day during the six-month pre-quarantine (Caliwan,

2020). It is evident that the entire world isn't ready for the occurrence of COVID- 19 especially

the police personnel. Sustaining the supplies for health and sanitation has become a challenge,

especially for developing countries such as the Philippines. Health protocols to eradicate the risk

of transmission, such as physical distancing, have become a struggle to be implemented properly.

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With the increase of the cases, front liners have been working multiple hours a day to do their

duty (Frontuna and Tus, 2021).

Hence, this study aimed to identify the problems encountered by the Philippine National

Police (PNP) upon the implementation of the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Objectives
This study aimed to identify the problems encountered by the Philippine National Police
during the implementation of health and safety protocols.

Methods
This study was obtained through research online resourcing.
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Results and Discussions

Analysis
The role of the police also changes as the context of the pandemic changes and the needs

of the population and the government evolve. For example, the judiciary courts can prioritize

certain cases at the expense of others according to the situation, which will impact police

decisions about offences that should be prosecuted and the files that should be investigated. The

needs of the police staff and the capacity of the organization can also change during the

pandemic as they and their families can be hit by the pandemic, at least in the same proportion as

the rest of the population. Therefore, planning the police response to COVID-19 is extremely

important to address evolving issues related to the preparedness, the response and the recovery

from the pandemic. The importance of the planning lies also in the reputational risks that the
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police can potentially have during the response to the pandemic, knowing that the measures

taken today would impact the future relationship between the police and the population after the

pandemic.

The police should also look to the non-harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and

prepare its response to better position itself and enhance its service to the population. The police

should consider the windows of opportunities that can be opened during the pandemic at the

political and social levels to introduce some critical reforms, such as the digital transformation of

the police management and innovation in investigation procedures that can sustainably and

positively impact the development of the police, once the pandemic is safely behind us. Start by

gaining a thorough understanding of the threat. Before drafting protocols, it is imperative that

those who are responsible for the police-related planning have a thorough understanding of the

threat, including the impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the community and on the

police agency’s ability to function. Understanding the threat and the issues that will arise will

help police officials to accurately assess the planning components and resources needed, as well

as to anticipate how a COVID-19 pandemic may change the policing environment and the

agency’s priorities. PNP personnel can look for outside resources and promising approaches in

other departments.

Very few local policing agencies have completed comprehensive plans for a COVID-19

pandemic, but as more police agencies begin to move forward in the planning process, they may

develop resources and planning guidance that will prove useful to other agencies’ planning

processes. Internet search engines also can be useful in finding the most up-to-date information

and in identifying police and other law enforcement agencies that have developed plans. They

can set realistic expectations of the police role in a pandemic COVID-19 scenario. In writing
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police plans, be very clear about the ability of the agency to assist other agencies during a

COVID-19 pandemic. In any large-scale emergency, police resources (and the resources of other

first responders) can quickly be overwhelmed. In the case of a COVID-19 pandemic, police

agencies are likely to face the additional burden of operating with a reduced workforce, as some

of their own officers may become sick or require isolation after being exposed to infected

persons. A key part of the jurisdiction-wide planning for a COVID-19 pandemic is to identify the

priority roles that only police, or other law enforcement agencies can take, and to find

alternatives to police assistance where possible. Use existing plans and incorporate only the new

components that are needed during a COVID-19 pandemic. Planning for a COVID-19 pandemic

can be very similar to planning for other types of critical incidents. While there are COVID-19

pandemic specific components that must be planned for (such as preventing disease transmission

in the workplace), plans should be flexible and applicable to other types of public health

emergencies. In many cases, the overall emergency planning structure is “modular.” Individual

modules cover such topics as evacuation of urban areas, or how mortuaries should plan to handle

mass fatalities. Depending on the nature of an emergency, different modules can be taken off the

shelf and implemented as they would be applicable to any event in which the police workforce is

diminished.

The problems and risks faced by the Philippine National Police in managing the crisis

and implementing the COVID-19 health and safety protocols has come up through the physical

assaults on them and through the exposure to the virus during the course of their exposure to the

affected people. These personal risks can be classified in major patterns such as: a. the physical

attacks numerous police teams and individuals have faced recently while attempting to enforce

movement restrictions; b. contact tracing and quarantining efforts where the police has faced
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wrath of those who do not want to be hospitalized or quarantined as per the health protocol and

have retaliated in violent manner; and c. police interface with the affected people during

checking and having an interface with potentially affected people. The global pandemic is no

stranger to humanity's history; however, it challenged the police preparedness towards it. With

the sudden change in policing strategies, the police PNP personnel reflected on their duties as

front lines and that patience is essential as it was tested by the number of violators they have

encountered on their duty. The pandemic made them efficient and ready if another national

emergency arises in the future.

Recommendations
As a Criminology Intern, the following may be recommend:

1. To the Philippine National Police, they must serve and protect always the community despite

the presence of violators. They must make sure to protect themselves as they are also human

vulnerable to the virus.

2. To the Community, they must abide the existing laws and ordinances and the COVID-19

health and safety protocols to protect themselves from the threat of the virus. They must always

discipline themselves to at least help the police personnel in maintaining public order amid the

pandemic.

3. To the Violators, they must make sure not to re-violate the health and safety protocols for the

common good. It is not the police who can control the spread of the virus but ourselves.

4. To the Local Government Unit, they must properly communicate the existing safety and health

protocols for them to be aware of those. They must also strictly impose the protocols and its

prevailing fines once deviated by individuals.

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5. To the Philippine Government, strong coordination with the Philippine National Police must

be strengthened. They must also protect the police personnel as they front heroes in the midst of

the threat brought by the pandemic.

Furthermore, this study recommends that the national and local government’s policies related to

COVID-19 should be clearly communicated to all local law enforcement officers. Local law

enforcement leaders should clearly establish how officers are to interact with the community and

enforce the rules.

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