Parañaque mayor orders village checked for illegal Chinese clinics

MANILA, Philippines — Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez has ordered the police and heads of local government agencies to conduct inspections after he received reports that illegal clinics catering to Chinese nationals continued to operate inside Multinational Village.

In Memorandum No. 2020-051 dated June 11, Olivarez directed the city officials to go after underground Chinese clinics and “[deal] with and bring all concerned parties to the bar of justice.”

His order addressed to city police chief Police Col. Robin King Sarmiento, city health officer Dr. Olga Virtusio, city building official Engr. Diamela Apolinario, and business permits and licensing office chief Melanie Soriano was based on a letter request from residents of the subdivision in Barangay Moonwalk.

Frequent sightings

They had reported seeing scores of Chinese nationals frequenting buildings and houses inside the gated community leading to suspicions that there were more illegal clinics in the area.

On May 29, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided a three-story house on Timothy Street that served as a clinic for Chinese nationals, particularly employees of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).

4 arrested

The NBI arrested four Chinese nationals running the makeshift clinic and seized boxes of dextrose stands, swab kits, face masks, gloves, condoms and boxes of Chinese-labeled medicines for respiratory ailments and sexually transmitted diseases.

The board of the Multinational Village Homeowners Association Inc. earlier denied there were illegal clinics inside the subdivision. It distanced itself from the issue, claiming it was a “police matter.”

Weekly swab testing

The discovery prompted Olivarez to order the city health office to conduct weekly swab testing at Multinational Village to contain community transmission of the new coronavirus disease.

The business permits and licensing office was also tasked to regularly inspect all commercial establishments in the area after the city government learned that businesses being operated by Chinese nationals using Filipino dummies were not paying taxes.

In addition, the city building official was directed to inspect condominiums and houses to check if these were covered by building and occupancy permits.

Charges had been filed against the owners of at least 11 buildings that were constructed despite numerous work stoppage orders and notices of violation.

According to local government records, there were 19 legal Pogo companies in the city, most of them based at Entertainment City in Barangay Tambo.