President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday ordered at least two policemen to guard hotels serving as quarantine sites for returning Filipinos following the report of a woman who skipped quarantine and partied in Makati City after arriving from the United States.
In his Talk to the People, Duterte said hotel personnel cannot “physically stop” those insisting to escape quarantine. Only the police or designated government personnel have the authority to enforce quarantine, he added.
“They cannot be physically stopped, (as) they do not have authority or power. Ang makapaghinto sa kanila government personnel placed in there in the hotel to work on the matter of placing people under quarantine,” Duterte said.
He asked Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano to place policemen at hotels contracted by the government as quarantine sites. The Department of Interior and Local Government has supervisory power over the Philippine National Police.
On Monday, Año directed PNP Chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos to conduct random inspections in quarantine hotels to determine if all individuals subject to isolation are following the health protocol.
Carlos said the police would make sure that health protocols were strictly implemented particularly in the areas under more stringent Alert Level 3 status.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered on Tuesday the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a thorough investigation on the possibility that a syndicate was behind the modus of offering quarantine exemptions and privileges to those arriving in the country.
Guevarra directed NBI officer-in-charge Eric Distor “to conduct a thorough investigation of possible willful violations of mandatory quarantine regulations, starting from the arrival area in our international airports up to facility/hotel-based and home-based quarantines.”
Guevarra issued the order as he raised suspicions that the incident involving “Poblacion Girl” was not an isolated case and that there might be people who are offering deals to those arriving in the country.
“These are highly probable situations that might be happening, but they have not yet been discovered… I believe that what happened in Makati was just the tip of the iceberg,” Guevarra said.
According to him, one possible scenario was that the airport might be the starting point of their racket, and that instead of bringing the new arrival to a quarantine facility, the person would be allowed to go home.
Guevarra said they were also not discounting the possibility that there might be accredited quarantine hotels or facilities that might have their own internal arrangements with their guests, who just arrived from other countries.
They might allow their guests to leave their hotel rooms or shorten their quarantine stay which are against the quarantine protocols.
However, the Justice Secretary warned that the hotels found violating the quarantine regulations might face administrative sanctions as well as cancellation of their business permits and eventually the closure of their businesses.
The hotel’s executives would also be faulted for their negligence, while their employees might be given disciplinary action by their management.
“They are under the supervision of government agencies. This is a public health issue so they cannot just disregard it. It is not only the person who would be affected, but there might be people who might get infected because of negligence and for disregarding the
requirements of the law. This is a public health matter so we should be careful,” he said.
“There will be a comprehensive investigation,” Guevarra said.
He added the same would apply for those under home quarantine, it is mandatory that they comply.
Guevarra admitted it was possible those behind this illegal operation were not afraid to commit the offense because of the paltry penalties imposed against violators of Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”
Violators would only be required to pay a fine of between P20,000 to P50,000, or an imprisonment of one to six months imprisonment.
He said it would be up to members of Congress to decide if they would want to revisit the law and amend the penalties.
“This will give the PNP the authority to intensify our inspection of these establishments since there is a directive from the DILG. These inspection rounds will be unannounced and shall be conducted randomly to determine which establishments are compliant with Public Health protocols. Let this be a warning that there is no room for complacency during this health emergency,” Carlos said in a press statement on Tuesday.
Año’s directive came after Gwyneth Anne Chua, a returning Filipino traveler from the United States, was able to skip quarantine procedures at Berjaya Hotel and attended a party a day after arrival. She infected several other partygoers after testing positive for COVID-19.
“We believe that police visibility will serve the purpose to monitor how the quarantine hotels are accommodating their guests who are required to isolate while waiting for the completion of the required number of quarantine days,” Carlos said.
