Hotels and other leisure facilities used as quarantine sites will now be subjected to inspection following the reported breach of quarantine procedures in a posh Makati City establishment, the National Task Force (NTF) Against the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) said Friday, Dec. 31.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and NTF chief implementer, said regular and spot inspections will be made by the Philippine National Police (PNP) under the supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure strict compliance of hotels and other establishments to quarantine protocols.
“Ang PNP at DILG magbibigay ng additional augmentation. Ang gagawin nila, magkakaroon ng regular inspection at spot inspection on all hotel isolation areas (The PNP and DILG will provide additional augmentation. What they will do is that they will conduct regular inspection and spot inspection on all hotel isolation areas),” he said in a press briefing in Manila.
Galvez was reacting to questions about the adjustments that will be made by the national government to prevent a repeat of the alleged breach in quarantine procedures of a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) who skipped hotel quarantine in Makati City.
The ROF, who recently returned from the United States, allegedly pulled some strings to bypass the hotel’s quarantine protocols and attend a party in Makati. It turns out that the ROF tested positive for COVID-19 and infected other party-goers.
Galvez said the NTF will hold another meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) “to establish more stringent regulations” pertaining to quarantine of ROFs.
“Para hindi na tayo malusutan ( to prevent a repeat of that breach),” he said.
Galvez graced a press briefing in Manila after the local government unit (LGU) allowed the use of its COVID-19 Field Hospital Unit as a quarantine facility for ROFs.
He was accompanied by Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano, and other representatives from Bureau of Quarantine, and Manila’s health department unit.