9 Valenzuela City Hall employees suspended over quarantine violation

MANILA, Philippines — Nine Valenzuela City Hall employees were suspended for 14 days on Tuesday for not observing physical distancing inside a government vehicle last week.

“They admitted [to the violation]. They said it was a lapse in their judgement as they were in a rush to go home,” Mayor Rex Gatchalian said in a text message.Aside from the suspension, the nine would also be deployed to the city epidemiology and surveillance unit (Cesu) to assist contact tracers “so that they [could] see the difficulty of the situation [and to] … teach them a long-term lesson.”

Gatchalian said the errant employees would undergo contact-tracing training and seminar before their deployment to Cesu starting today, Aug. 26. In a Facebook post last Wednesday, the nine were seen seated closely together in an Isuzu Crosswind that belonged to the Valenzuela treasurer’s office.

They were traveling on the northbound lane of the North Luzon Expressway-Barangay Karuhatan entry point.

According to Gatchalian, as government employees, they were not exempt from following the law, stressing that minimum health standards set by the Department of Health to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease should be followed by everyone.

Under the city’s general community quarantine protocols, shuttle services can carry only half of the vehicle’s capacity, as passengers must be one seat apart. A nonpermeable, transparent barrier must also be in place between the driver and passengers.