(1) STATE OF EXCEPTION Jurisdiction: Philippines Ruby Rosselle L. Tugade 15 August 2020 1. REGULATORY TIMELINE 23 January 2020 Imposition of ban on incoming flights from Wuhan, China. 28 January 2020 The Department of Health (DOH) convenes the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. 30 January 2020 First COVID19 case in the Philippines is confirmed. 01 February 2020 DOH announces the first COVID19 death in the Philippines. Travelers from Mainland China and its Special Administrative Regions are banned from entering the Philippines. 08 March 2020 President Rodrigo Duterte declares a State of Public Health Emergency. 15 March 2020 Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon begins. 24 March 2020 Republic Act No. 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act is signed into law, granting emergency powers to the President. 07 April 2020 President Duterte extends the Luzon lockdown to April 30. 01 June 2020 Metro Manila eases into less restrictive General Community Quarantine. 25 June 2020 The effectivity of Bayanhian to Heal as One Act expired. 2. INTRODUCTION President Rodrigo Duterte was elected in 2016 and ran on a populist campaign, promising governance with an iron fist (Dressel & Bonoan 2020). Scholars have made the observation that the Duterte administration has propped up an illiberal democratic order, commanding through police and military might (Thompson 2017). The Philippine government’s answer to the COVID19 pandemic has followed the same tack, with police and military actors leading the forefront in decision-making and on-the-ground implementation. Early on in the country’s response to the public health crisis, the executive department rationalized the appointment of former military generals as primary implementers of the national action plan against COVID19 (PCOO 2020a). The militaristic strategy adopted by the Philippine government drew comparisons to its earlier anti-drug campaign, which has already resulted in allegations of widespread human rights violations (Robertson 2020). The call of civil society in the midst of the COVID19 response has been “solusyong medikal, hindi militar” (medical solutions, not military ones), in opposition to the draconian tactics employed by State forces. Republic Act No. 11469 (Bayanihan To Heal As One Act), a law granting emergency powers to the President, was passed by the Philippine legislature on March 2020 to address the rising cases of COVID19 infections in the country. As of writing, the emergency powers have expired by operation of