A Filipino who broke the quarantine rules died after being forced to do 300 squat exercises by the police as a punishment, his family said.
Darren Manaog Penaredondo was reportedly stopped by police officers while buying water after 6 pm local time in the province of Cavite on Thursday.
He passed out the next day and died later.
The province of Cavite, on the island of Luzon, is currently under strict blockade to combat the spread of Covid.
Marlo Solero, chief of police for General Trias City, said there is no physical punishment for those who violate curfew rules, only lectures by police officers. He told local media that if the police were found to have applied the punishment, it would not be tolerated.
A relative of the victim, Adrian Lucena, announced his death on Facebook. He said that Penaredondo and others who violated the curfew were instructed to do 100 squat exercises in sync.
If they were unable to do them at the same time, they would have to repeat the series, he said. The group ended up doing 300 of the exercises.
Penaredondo returned home at 6 am Friday morning in pain, his brother said. His residency partner told the local news agency Rappler that he had a hard time moving out on Friday.
“All day, he struggled to walk, he was just crawling. But I didn’t take it seriously because he said it was just a simple pain in the body,” said Reichelyn Balce.
The next day, he passed out and stopped breathing. Mrs. Balce asked the neighbors to help revive him, but he would have died shortly afterwards.
Ony Ferrer, mayor of General Trias City, said he had ordered the police chief to conduct a full investigation. He described the alleged punishment as “torture”.
Mr Ferrer added that he was in contact with Mr Penaredondo’s family.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch warned that rule violators in the Philippines were being abused. The human rights group said there have been cases where police and local authorities have confined people in dog cages and others have been forced to sit in the midday sun.
During a television speech on Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte warned citizens not to challenge the blocking rules, saying: “I will not hesitate. My orders are for the police and military, as well as village officials, if any. problem, or occasions when there is violence and their lives are in danger, shoot them. “