MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:11 p.m.) — The Department of Health on Thursday urged the public to follow quarantine protocols after reports that a woman who arrived from the US paid off a local hotel for her to break isolation went viral on social media.
This comes as Metro Manila enters "moderate risk" status from low-risk after the positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that came out positive steadily rose through the holidays.
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In a statement issued Thursday morning, the DOH appealed to the public to comply with COVID-19 policies, adding that violators of minimum public health standards "shall be dealt with in accordance with the law."
"Now is not the time to relax and deliberately put others in danger. The entire nation worked so hard to keep our cases down," the DOH said.
"Following minimum public health standards however uncomfortable at times, our healthcare and frontline workers working overtime to save lives, our LGUs and the rest of the government crafting policies so that we can balance health and economy — these are just some of the sacrifices we make so we can recover from the pandemic, return to work, and safely open up schools and establishments."
The Health Department added that non-adherence to COVID-19 guidelines and policies constitutes a violation of Republic Act No. 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) December 30, 2021
'Disregard for quarantine counterintuitive to recovery'
The Tourism Congress of the Philippines, an industry group and private sector consultative body which assists the government in tourism matters, also reminded tourists and institutions alike to follow quarantine protocols and minimum public health standards.
"The TCP strongly reminds passengers allowed to enter the Philippines to strictly adhere to the quarantine protocols issued by the [Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease] and the DOT. We have received reports of individuals blatantly disregarding the quarantine rules and discourage that practice," TCP president Jojo Clemente told Philstar.com in an online exchange.
"We also remind our stakeholders to follow these protocols to help mitigate the spread of the COVID virus and its variants. We have been working hard to ensure that we work towards the reopening of tourism in the Philippines and these kinds of lapses are counterintuitive to those objectives."
In a separate statement, the Department of Tourism said it was in the process of validating the reports with other government agencies, while the unnamed hotel in question has been served a Notice to Explain, which directs it to submit its response to the allegations within three days.
"Failure to comply with the health and safety protocols of the DOT, DOH, or IATF-EID may lead to criminal penalties of fines and/or imprisonment, and administrative penalties such as suspension or revocation of accreditation depending on the gravity of the offense," the department also said in the statement, per a tweet report by ABS-CBN.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri said it was "irresponsible, illegal, and unforgivable" that people are "coming in from abroad and using connections and their money to avoid the required isolation period that the IATF has put in place to protect our people from COVID."
"This is worrying, because they can be positive, and cause community transmission. One example is an individual who allegedly skipped quarantine protocols to attend parties of her friends who have now all tested positive with COVID 19," he said as he also scored "unscrupulous individuals who skip quarantine protocols and put so many lives in danger, with no thought for the potential strain they are putting on our healthcare system."
Zubiri, who is a reelectionist, urged the DOT, DOH, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government to investigate the matter "starting with the quarantine facilities who allow this to happen."
"Our COVID crisis will not end if there are such individuals and facilities who do not care about proper compliance with our quarantine protocols. These hotel quarantine facilities should be investigated, and they may have many others allowed to violate isolation protocols."
Stricter enforcement for the poor
Accounts on social media that have since gone viral say the woman and her companions left her quarantine hotel for a party in Barangay Poblacion in Makati City.
Their managing to skip quarantine is in stark contrast to the recorded cases of quarantine violations from regular people. Earlier on in the coronavirus-induced quarantines, cases of aggressive and overzealous quarantine enforcement piled up in the name of "punishing" the public for its "stubbornness" and "complacency" with quarantine regulations.
READ: Back to 'disiplina'? On second day of ECQ, stories of power-tripping enforcers
Urban poor residents asking for food assistance were arrested. One former soldier was shot by cops in the back and killed; local police tagged him as "mentally challenged," but it was later found they planted evidence on him.
Another quarantine violator was beaten with sticks, while another was made to do 300 rounds of a pumping exercise. He passed away of a stroke days later.
Yet a number of government officials, affluent influencers, and other persons in authority have, themselves, failed to follow the same rules and walked scot-free regardless.
Omicron spread feared
Other posts alleged that she was infected with the Omicron variant, though neither the Bureau of Quarantine nor the DOH have confirmed this. The DOH last said that on Wednesday that it identified 22 close contacts of the 4th person to test positive for the COVID-19 variant of concern — a 38-year-old female traveler from the United States who arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on December 10.
“The detection of Omicon cases remains to be among international arrivals. Its entry is inevitable and we want to further delay its entry to ensure that local health systems are ready,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said earlier Monday.
Philstar.com also sought Philippine Hotel Owners Association president Art Lopez and Coast Guard Commodore Armando Balilo and Police Col. Roderick Alba, spokespersons for the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police for comment. This story will be updated with their responses.
"Keeping cases low and hospital admissions manageable is a whole-of-society effort," the DOH reminded Filipinos.
"The DOH encourages the public to report individuals, establishments or LGUs violating quarantine protocols to locate authorities to ensure its proper implementation and further prevent transmission of COVID-19."
— with a report from Gaea Katreena Cabico
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.