SENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon rejected a government plan to conduct house-to-house search for patients infected with the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) for transfer to isolation facilities.

The senator objected to the plan of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to mobilize security forces for a house to house to search for Covid-19 patients with no or mild symptoms who are under home quarantine.

Malacañang has since assured the public that there would be no house-to-house search.

READ: Palace assures public: No ‘house-to-house’ search for Covid-19 patients

“No warrant, no entry. We have reached a crossroad in our fight against the Covid pandemic that our very government is set to flagrantly violate the very rights that we, the people, have always held to be sacred,” Drilon said in a text message.

He said Filipinos “have inviolable constitutional right to be secure in their persons, houses or against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose.”

“As a last resort and with a total lack of imagination, the IATF is about to embark on violating our rights,” Drilon said.

Sought for comment on the same issue, Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd said, “It appears that they are dead serious in truncating the spread of the virus. As long as it is within due bounds then I don’t see a problem.”

Drilon urged the government to revisit their decision to invade people’s homes. “We need health professionals to contact trace those affected, not the police to sow fear and panic.”

“We need officials to be creative in their solution, not fascist actions to demand submission which by the way has not worked for the past few months,” he said.

“And lastly, we need government to draw out the people’s cooperation and it can only be done when our people see that government has a clear focused strategy to contain this virus. Sadly, that remains to be seen,” Drilon added.

Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros said, “This may actually discourage more people from reporting their status. We need to improve home- and community-based healthcare.”

“Instead of police, doctors and health workers are needed in barangay (villages). We need more and better barangay-based health-based healthcare, not this,” she said in Filipino.