Legal experts are raising issues against the pronouncement of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año that police will conduct house-to-house search for coronavirus-positive persons so they can be transferred to government quarantine facilities. Among the issues are the rights to privacy and to be secure in one's house, as well as potential vulnerabilities to a warrantless arrest.
Año said on Tuesday, July 14, "With the help of the LGU (local government unit) and the PNP (Philippine National Police), we will go house-to-house and will bring the positive cases to our COVID isolation facilities."
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Wednesday, July 15, that the house-to-house plan had not been discussed yet by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). Guevarra said he was not consulted on the legality of the plan.
Rights to privacy and security of abode
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said the plan "is susceptible to overreach in terms of guaranteeing the right to privacy and right of individuals to be secure in their abode."
Section 2, Article III, of the Constitution provides for the "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose."
Without saying that the plan was legal, Guevarra said that, should it be approved, it should be health workers, not policemen, conducting the house-to-house search.