Truck drivers who are delivering food supplies only need IDs to get past checkpoints that enforce a Luzon-wide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic, the Philippine National Police said Friday.

The PNP received reports that local authorities in Pami, Laguna blocked food trucks that lacked "quarantine passes" the town government issued -- a situation that could be happening in other parts of the country, said police chief of directorial staff Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar.

"Merong food pass, commodity pass, work pass, pati mga emergency pass na hindi naman kailangan kasi ang basic talaga ID lang para malaman natin kung sila ay authorized," Eleazar, who heads the Joint Task Force Coronavirus Shield, told DZMM.

(They issued food pass, commodity pass, work pass, even ann emergency pass -- which are not really needed because the basic requirement is an ID for us to know if they are duly authorized.)

"If individual LGUs will work on their own instead of as a team, we are doomed to fail on this, Dapat maliwanagan ang lahat, lokal na pamahalaan pati na siyempre barangay, uulit-ulitin natin ang cargo 'wag harangan," he added.

(It should be clear to everyone -- the local governments and the barangays -- and we will reiterate it: do not block cargo.)

The Philippines' tally of COVID cases surged to 707 on Thursday, including 45 deaths and 28 patients who recovered. The count could spike due to the recent arrival of additional test kits, the health department earlier said.

The entire Luzon, home to around half of the Philippines' 100 million people, is under lockdown until April 12.

DZMM, March 27, 2020