Brazen, disrespectful

What were these Chinese thinking? Have they no respect or fear of our laws? I ask this after several illegally operating clinics treating COVID-19 Chinese patients were raided by authorities in Pampanga, Cavite, Makati, and Parañaque corresponding where POGOs operate. They are even manned by doctors sans permits or licenses to practice in the country even if they are licensed in China. There are drugs that do not appear to have undergone inspection by the DOH and are not certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Medical waste is just discarded wherever they can which is what tipped them off. Medical waste is properly collected by specific companies to be properly disposed of. They simply cannot be discarded anywhere as they pose a biohazard to the community.

What they have done is totally unacceptable. First, the infected patients are not tallied and monitored by the DOH. Surely they did not go to any accredited testing center in the country and did it themselves. They need accreditation from the DOH to do that. Second, they do not seem to have the confidence in our hospitals or doctors to treat them so they would rather rely on one of their own. Third, how were the drugs able to enter the country without scrutiny? Most are even labeled in Chinese characters devoid of any English. Fourth, improperly disposing of medical waste is a serious criminal offense. They are just putting the community if not the whole country at risk. And fifth, why were two Chinese nationals caught in a raid inside the Fontana Leisure Park in Pampanga released without even being charged with anything?

Shouldn't heads be rolling where these illegal clinics were discovered? Why were the Chinese released? This sounds like the 2013 buy/bust all over again. All over the country quarantine violators receive some form of punishment. And obviously, these infected Chinese come from the POGOs. The POGOs the BIR says not one of them has paid proper taxes. Uncertified drugs are another thing. They definitely had help bringing them in.

The finance department will surely argue these POGOs are needed by the country especially during a pandemic. They are supposed to be generating revenue for the country. But one only has to ask the BIR if they have. They flout the law as if accountability does not exist. Brazen, disrespectful. Need we ask why? If a high ranking police officer can disregard quarantine rules and still have the support of the highest official in the land, nothing should longer surprise anyone.