PRRD wants cops deployed in hotel quarantine facilities

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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that he wanted at least two police officers stationed in hotels that serve as Covid-19 quarantine facilities to prevent people from skipping their mandatory quarantine.

Duterte stated that because hotel owners lack the authority and power to prevent people under quarantine from violating protocols, it only makes sense to delegate the task to government personnel, specifically police officers.

“The hotel owners or whoever is working there cannot be tasked of or placing the burden of enforcing the rules of quarantine because only government can enforce it…Ang makapahinto sa kanila yung (The only ones who can stop them are) government personnel put in the hotel to work in the matter of placing people under quarantine,” he said in a prerecorded Talk to the People.

He then asked Interior Secretary Eduardo Año if two shifts of at least two police officers is possible to be deployed in hotel quarantine facilities.

“What I propose for government to do is…Secretary Año, sir kaya mong maglagay ng pulis sa mga hotels na ginagamit na quarantine ng gobyerno? Dalawang pulis in two shifts para diyan lang (Can you deploy two police officers in hotels used as quarantine facilities of government? Two police officers in two shifts)?” he asked.

In response, Año stated that he has already discussed the plan with Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos.

Meanwhile, Duterte asked Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra if hotel owners could be held liable for permitting people to skip mandatory quarantines.

Persons or entities who violate Republic Act (RA) No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Concern Act, may face a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to Guevarra.

“There is a provision there on non-cooperation as part of prohibited acts and it seems to be that non-cooperation on the part of certain entities which are charged with a duty to respond to the pandemic may also be punishable. So these entities, Mr. President, may include establishments which are charged with the duty, for example, as a quarantine hotel to ensure that people that are quarantined within the establishment should not be able to jump the quarantine regulations,” Guevarra said.

However, he claims that hotel management is only limited with devising methods to keep people from violating quarantine protocols.

“Wala silang (They do not have) coercive power to stop but they can only report kung mayroon violation yung occupant (if an occupant has made a violation),” he added.

Duterte stated that because hotel owners’ delegated power is “lacking”, police officers should take over the task of ensuring that people complete their mandatory quarantine period.

“Yung (The) delegated power is not really very clear that they can stop or bar or prohibit. Medyo kulang ang batas. ’Yan yung problema. That’s why yung pulis nalang (The law is lacking. That’s the problem. That’s why let’s give it to the cops),” he said.

On Monday, the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed a case against a returning Filipina who violated quarantine protocols upon her arrival from the United States (US), her parents, her boyfriend, and five other persons before the Makati City prosecutor’s office for violating Republic Act 11332.

According to the CIDG, Gwyneth Anne Chua checked in at the Berjaya Hotel Makati on Dec. 22 at 11:23 p.m., but was later seen in a bar and restaurant on Dec. 23 and Dec. 25, before returning to the hotel.

On Dec. 26, Chua tested positive for Covid-19 and infected around 15 people she was with.

She is currently being isolated in one of the isolation facilities in Metro Manila.

The Berjaya Hotel Makati later apologized for “failing to stop” the woman from leaving before the end of her required quarantine period.