Penalize hotels involved in COVID-19 quarantine breach, says Robredo

Vice President Leni Robredo  (Screengrab from Facebook / OVP)

MANILA, Philippines — Quarantine hotels that breach protocols against COVID-19 should be penalized, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday.

Robredo’s remark came after reports of individuals leaving their designated quarantine hotels amid their quarantine period.

“Kaya tayo may quarantine protocols dahil gusto nga nating ma-contain kaya dapat talaga sinusunod ito. ‘Yung hindi ko lang maintindihan kung bakit nalulusutan,” she lamented during the BISErbisyong LENI radio program on DZXL.

“Nung pumutok kasi ‘yung kwento nga nung sa Poblacion girl, naglabasan na ‘yung mga kwento na apparently, nangyayari na ito before.  So, ang tanong ko, bakit siya nangyayari?,” said Robredo, referring to Gwyneth Anne Chua who skipped quarantine to attend a party in Baranagy Pobalcion, Makati City.

 (When the Poblacion girl story emerged, other stories came to light wherein apparently, this has happened before. So, my question is, why is this happening?)

After Chua made headlines for leaving Berjaya Hotel where she is quarantining, another returning overseas Filipino was also reported to have skipped quarantine and even availed of massage services.

“And ‘pag nangyari siya, kailangan talaga i-penalize talaga ‘yung hotel kasi the mere fact na ina-accredit kayo ng DOT (Department of Tourism), partner kayo ng pamahalaan,” Robredo noted.

(When that happens, the hotel should be penalized because the mere fact that they were accredited by the DOT, they are partners of the government.)

“Partner kayo ng pamahalaan to make sure na ‘yung naka-quarantine sa inyo ay hindi lalabas diyan until hindi sila nagkaroon ng negative RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test,” she continued.

(They are partners of the government to make sure that those in quarantine in their hotel will not leave until they have a negative RT-PCR test.)

The DOT has earlier suspended Berjaya Hotel’s accreditation and its permit as a multiple-use hotel over the protocol breach.

 The Makati City government closed the hotel following DOT’s three-month suspension order.

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