The Quezon City (QC) local government said it will file charges against a construction firm for reportedly failing to notify the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU) about the COVID-19 positive cases among its workers.
The City Department of the Building Official (DBO) already endorsed the filing of charges against Millennium Erector Corporation (MEC) for violation of RA 11332, the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
MEC is undertaking the construction of Manhattan Cubao where 57 COVID-19 cases were recorded.
A Cease and Desist Order (CDO) was also issued against the company last Aug. 26 which halted all its construction activities.
“The CDO will not be lifted until there is clearance from the CESU and DBO,” said DBO Officer-in-Charge Atty. Dale Perral.
The first COVID-19 case in Manhattan Cubao was identified on Aug. 16. The CESU then conducted mass testing on 271 employees working at the at the site, which resulted in 13 positive individuals.
Following the detection of positive cases, the area was placed under Special Concern Lockdown.
Another 13 workers tested positive for COVID-19 and were sent to the city’s HOPE facility on Aug. 21.
On Aug. 26, the CESU conducted mass testing anew on workers who initially tested negative “after the contact tracers and the barangay noticed that many of them were asking for paracetamol and many were coughing.”
The testing resulted in 30 additional COVID positive workers.
Mayor Joy Belmonte called on companies in the city to immediately inform the LGU about their workers who “could be positive for COVID-19.”
“This is to avoid the spread of the virus in their work area and to nearby communities,” Belmonte said.
“Kung hindi kayo makikipagtulungan at magdudulot kayo ng abala pati na sa komunidad, hindi kami magdadalawang isip na sampahan kayo ng kaso (If you are not going to cooperate and you will just cause inconvenience to the community, we won’t have second thoughts on filing cases against you),” she added.