NBI to look into schemes to cut quarantine for pay
MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday that he ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into possible willful violations of mandatory quarantine protocols.
In a message to reporters, Guevarra said the probe will cover the quarantine process from arrival at airports up to facility or hotel-based, and home-based quarantines, the DOJ chief added.
This came after authorities confirmed that returning Filipino Gwyneth Chua skipped quarantine after arriving from the US to party in Poblacion, Makati City.
Just days later, the Department of Tourism said another passenger from the US did not undergo quarantine and posted about getting a massage on the day she arrived.
Guevarra, in a separate interview with DZBB on Tuesday, said he met with NBI chief Eric Distor earlier and they discussed the possibility that the Chua’s case is not an isolated incident.
"We think that there may be a racket scheme that starts from the airport. Instead of bringing [the person] to a quarantine facility, maybe they are allowed to home, so forth and so on," Guevarra said in Filipino.
"Those in quarantine or accredited facilities like hotel, they may be an arrangement where you will be allowed to go out and just return later. Shorten the quarantine period," he said.
"These are very highly probable situations that could be happening but we just have yet to discover them," Guevarra added.
PNP to file raps
The Philippine National Police said it will file complaints against Chua, her parents who were seen to have fetched her from the hotel, and Berjaya Makati Hotel employees over the quarantine breach.
The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group confirmed that Chua's leaving the quarantine facility and "disregarding the quarantine procedure" violated the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Concern Act, particularly a section in its Implementing Rules and Regulations defining non-cooperation as:
- Failure to comply with a quarantine/ isolation order or directive duly issued by public health authority;
- Violation of any terms or conditions of the quarantine or isolation order or directive issued by a public health authority
Guevarra said in the same radio interview that the hotels tapped as quarantine facilities may also face administrative liability if they knowingly allow quarantined individuals to cut their isolation period short.
The DOJ chief also stressed that the hotels used as quarantine hotels are under the supervision of government agencies.
"This is a public health issue so they cannot just ignore it. Other people may be affected and infected, not only the concerned person if there is negligence in the law’s requirements," he added.
READ: Whatever happened to: Quarantine violators in Philippine government
Although the implementation of quarantine protocols has been vigorously enforced against ordinary citizens, high-profile violators of guidelines on essential travel and holding large gatherings have been cleared of complaints filed against them. — with reports from Franco Luna
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