Makati hotel sorry over quarantine breach
MANILA, Philippines — A hotel in Makati has apologized over a quarantine breach where a woman was able to skip isolation to party and then eventually tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement on Saturday, the Berjaya Makati Hotel said sorry “for failing to stop the guest from jumping her quarantine.”
“This was the only incident of its kind in the nearly two years that we have served as a quarantine hotel, and we will make sure that it is the last,” The Berjaya said. “We can only make up for it by being an exemplar of compliance moving forward.”
The hotel added that it is fully cooperating with all government agencies that are investigating the incident, which was met with widespread condemnation.
“This was a very serious breach given the pandemic’s disastrous impact on lives and livelihood,” it said. “Any employee found errant by commission or omission will be dealt with severely to deter a repeat of what happened.”
The Berjaya is at the center of an investigation into the quarantine breach by a woman whom the Department of Tourism identified in its show-cause letter to the hotel as Gwyneth Anne Chua.
Chua claimed that she got out of the quarantine hotel because of her “connections,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in an interview with TeleRadyo.
“We heard that the individual boasted that she was able to skip quarantine because she has connections. All those who were with her in the party tested positive and the contacts of those who tested positive also got the virus,” Romulo-Puyat said in Filipino.
The Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Health will soon file a legal complaint against Chua. — Xave Gregorio
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