MANILA, Philippines — A non-profit organization yesterday filed graft charges against government officials led by presidential spokesman Harry Roque and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat for allegedly violating health protocols.
“The poor who are not able to buy and wear face shields get arrested and shot. They die without being given proper care and medical attention while our government officials commit various violations, yet they do not receive any form of?punishment,” Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment convenor BenCyrus Ellorin said.
The group sued Roque for violating quarantine?restrictions on non-essential travel such as when he went to Subic to “swim with dolphins” in July 2020, dived in Boracay in February this year and conducted a public meeting without observing social distancing in Bantayan, Cebu.
“The presidential spokesperson is not only?making a mockery of legally mandated minimum public health standards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he flaunts his power as if he is above the law,” Pinoy Aksyon said.
Roque welcomed the charges filed against him and other officials before the Office of the Ombusman.
“This is good so I can prove that I didn’t violate anything. Everything I did was in accordance with the prevailing quarantine qualifications,” he said.
“Please file another complaint, it will just be dismissed. But I welcome that, so those who would like to destabilize the government would have a sense,” he added.
In the case of Puyat, the group said she violated quarantine protocols when she brought her six-year-old daughter on a trip to Bohol despite a travel ban imposed on children and minors.
Responding to the charges, Puyat said she did not break any law when she and her child went on a trip.
Puyat told The STAR that she would not have taken her child to Bohol if it was not allowed.
She cited a resolution issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) allowing point-to-point travel for travelers coming from Metro Manila.
The resolution provides that minors are allowed to travel for leisure, as long as they undergo RT-PCR test.
San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora was also included in the charge sheet for going to Baguio City in June 2020, as was his father, San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, for violating a memorandum circular of the Food and Drug Administration on the proper use of vaccines.
“The elder Zamora admitted getting inoculated with Sinopharm in December 2020, ahead of the roll-out of the government’s national?vaccination program,” it said. He eventually got inoculated again with Pfizer shots last July.
The group also charged Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas, Antique Gov. Rhodora Cadiao, Bukidnon Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri and Abra Gov. Maria Jocelyn Bernas as well as Mayors Gerry Natanauan of Talisay, Batangas; Rolen Paulino Jr. of Olongapo City and Ernesto Escutin of Dao, Capiz for violating ?Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal as One Act.
“It’s time to hold our public officials accountable. At least make our legal system work against impunity in whatever form,” said Ellorin.
The group included in the charges Mayor Dino Reyes Chua of Noveleta, Cavite; Mario Batuigas, owner of online news site Latigo News TV and vlogger Amor Virata for allegedly spreading false information and violating the Data Privacy Law. – Helen Flores, Alexis Romero, Ralph Edwin Villanueva