Authorities in Quezon City have lowered fines for those caught not wearing face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the previous fines of P1,000, P3,000, and P5,000 for the first, second and third offenses of violating the face mask wearing ordinance, only P300, P500 and P1,000 will be imposed in Quezon City.
Violators can also be jailed for up to a month.
Based on Ordinance No. SP-2957, the fine should be lowered because it is more affordable for violators, concerning the current economic situation.
Violators will no longer be taken to the police or Amoranto Stadium. They will be given an Ordinance Violation Receipt (OVR) and must pay a fine before the OVR expires within five days.
If they fail to pay, they will be charged at the city prosecutors’ office. Their offense will also appear in their police record when applying for police clearance.
On Wednesday, 1,300 people were caught violating health protocols during an operation by the authorities.
Aside from the face mask, the government also required the public to wear a face shield when commuting and inside their workplace.
The National Capital Region recorded a total of 86, 615 cases. The Philippines, meanwhile, logged 6, 216 new cases on August 14, bringing the total to 153,660 with 71,405 recoveries and 2,442 deaths.
The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said it would start reporting time-based COVID-19 recoveries weekly beginning Sunday, August 16.
“OPLAN RECOVERY is an initiative that the DOH activated to monitor the statuses of confirmed COVID-19 cases, particularly deaths and recoveries, to ensure that our data is updated and accurate. Since its activation, DOH has reported over 4,000 time-based recoveries as of July 13 and over 37,000 time-based recoveries last July 30,” DOH said in a Facebook post.
DOH earlier drew flak for its so-called “mass recovery” but DOH Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire earlier explained the 37,000 recoveries in one day is a result of the re-tagging of asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases as recovered. The new measure is part of the improved data harmonization among government agencies, she added.
DOH’s Department Memorandum 2020-0258 said asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 should be tagged as recovered 14 days from onset of symptom or date of swab collection.