(BusinessWorld) THE GOVERNMENT is seeking to tighten the rules against lockdown violators, according to President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“We might calibrate our response to the intransigence that you will show,” he said in a televised speech on Monday night.

In his report to the President, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año said they have filed cases against six village officials who failed to prevent mass gatherings.

The tough-talking leader earlier ordered police to arrest village chiefs who fail to stop so-called super spreader events.

Mr. Duterte had placed Metro Manila and nearby provinces under a strict lockdown from March to mid-May amid a fresh surge in coronavirus infections.

The restrictions were eventually eased after the infection rate in these areas eased.

The Health department has cited a fresh surge in infections in the southern and central Philippines.

The country’s healthcare utilization rate stood at 50%, presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr., told a televised news briefing on Tuesday.

He said about 48% of isolation beds had been used and about 49% of ward beds were occupied.