BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Health protocol violators in Bacolod City had reached 27,941 as of Sunday, P/Lt. Col. Lester Leada, who heads the City Police Office Operations Branch, said yesterday.
Of the number, 6,610 were reprimanded for violating the curfew hours, 2,363 were not following social distancing of at least a meter and 3,048 defied the liquor ban, Leada said.
He said 9,554 were caught for non-wearing of face masks while 6,366 had no face shields on while in public places.
Leada added the violators were not taken into custody but were given citation tickets and warned.
The Bacolod police reminded the public to abide by minimum health protocols to avoid getting fined or being made to do community service. Those caught violating the health protocols are fined P200 each if they are from Bacolod, and P300 for out-of-towners, based on a city ordinance.
NO SOCIAL DISTANCING?
Executive director Em Ang of the Emergency Operations Center said yesterday that they are issuing priority numbers to avoid the influx of overseas Filipino workers who want to be inoculated at the Bacolod Government Center that resulted in the non-compliance with some health protocols, particularly on social distancing.
Ang admitted that social distancing was not followed on Wednesday because those who were falling in line outside the BGC crammed the lobby following a heavy downpour.
Pictures of those waiting for their turn to be vaccinated cramming at the lobby of the BGC without following social distancing made the rounds on social media and netizens blamed the EOC for what happened.
Ang said they do not recommend those who want to be vaccinated at the BGC to fall in line because they are only catering to a specific number of persons at a given time but they insisted because they want to receive Pfizer jabs.
She said some of them were already falling in line at the third and second floor of the BGC but those who could not be accommodated were advised to have their inoculation at the malls instead where the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines are available.
Ang assured that what happened Wednesday at the BGC will not happen again and also advised those who have scheduled inoculation at the malls to be there an hour before the malls open instead of lining up as early as 6 a.m.*
