This article was originally published in VICE News.
The Philippines is known for her brutal out-of-court tactics in the war on drugs, and officials are now a similar technique in their fight against coronavirus.
The local government has subjected those arrested to violate lockdown regulations to humiliating and abusive punishments, locking them in cages for narrow dogs or forcing them to do so in the midday sun, according to reports.
Tactics reflect those used in other countries such as China and India in their locks opposite coronaviruses.In China, the government was filmed tying criminals to pillars and berating them, and in India, photographs of police officers beating the alleged criminals as they were forcing them to do so.Bomb in the street.
Reports of several recent alleged abuses in the Philippines have led Human Rights Watch to call on officials to respect the rights of those who have violated the lockdown and to investigate any excesses in the implementation of the new restrictions.
READ: Indian police accused of beating a man to death for violating coronavirus lockdown
“Police and local officials respect the rights of those they arrest for violating curfew and other public fitness regulations, which can be done at the same time as allowing the Philippine government to take appropriate steps to combat COVID-19,” Phil Robertson, Asia’s deputy director.He said Thursday.” Any mistreatment will have to be investigated without delay and the guilty government will be held accountable.”
In one case in the city of Santa Cruz, about 88 km south of Manila, a local official locked up a five-person organization, adding two minors, in a dog cage for violating the curfew last week.photo of the organization on Facebook.
According to police, Ambrocio, the president of the local administrative district, had threatened to shoot the organization if he complied and had locked them in the cage for 30 minutes, now faces charges of serious threats, coercion and child rape.laws of coverage, according to the News website PhilStar.
In a Facebook post, Ambrocio apologized for his movements and claimed that the organization had been abusive.”I’m sorry about what happened,” he wrote.
In the city of the greater Manila region of Mexico City, officials were criticized this week for forcing other people arrested for breaking the lock in the middle of a basketball court in the midday sun.
READ: Shocking images show Chinese government humiliating others for not wearing masks
Again, officials posted a photo of the scene on Facebook, with the warning that: “Everyone got caught violating the curfew that we are going to impose here.” The message was deleted after others criticized the motion as abusive and probably illegal.
In an interview with PhilStar, Noel Japlos, president of the local district of San Isidro, claimed that the men were left in the sun as punishment, but as a measure of social estrangement because all the internal comforts were full.
And in another case in Bulacan province, north of Manila, police shot dead a man early in Wednesday after a checkpoint was allegedly closed on a motorcycle.Police said they exchanged gunfire with the guy before shooting him and retrieving a gun at the scene.
President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the main Philippine island of Luzon, home to more than 50 million people, and the capital, Manila, on March 16 as part of a month-long containment strategy.Since then, police have arrested many other people.for violating blocking rules.
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On Friday, the Philippines recorded 803 cases of coronavirus and deaths.
Cover: Facebook / Eric Panisan Ambrocio