Filipino man who flouted coronavirus rules dies after 'exercise punishment'

A Filipino man who was flouting coronavirus rules died after being forced to exercise by police as a form of punishment.

Darren Manaog Penaredondo went out to buy water in the Cavity province on Thursday when he was stopped by officers at 6 pm local time, BBC reported.

He was then confronted by police officers who made him do 300 squat-like exercises, according to his family. The next day, he collapsed and died.

The Cavite province is currently under a strict lockdown to prevent further spread of COVID-19. 

According to the police chief of General Trias city, Marla Solero, there are no physical punishments for those flouting coronavirus curfew rules. He told local media that they only received lectures, and that such punishments would not be tolerated.

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His death was announced on Facebook by a relative who said that Penaredondo, along with others who were found flouting the curfew were forced to do 100 squat-like exercises in synchronisation.

If unable to do it in sync, they were made to start from scratch, and owing to this ended up doing 300 exercises.

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According to Penaredondo’s brother, he came home the next day at 6 am local time in extreme pain. He was reportedly unable to walk and thought it was a simple body ache. A day later, he collapsed and stopped breathing.

Ony Ferrer, the Mayor of General Trias City claims to have ordered a probe into the mishap, describing the alleged punishment as “torture”.