"It's always the workers who get punished."

That was how some social media users reacted to the closure of Ciso's Gastrobar in Quezon City on Monday following the explicit violations of health protocols committed by its guests over the weekend.

In a Facebook post, Zachary Gabriel said the Quezon City government could have "imposed a stricter monitoring" on the establishment instead of shutting it down.

"Kawawa naman yung mga nagtatrabaho doon, wala naman silang control over what their customers do (I feel sorry for the workers there. They have no control over what their customers do)," he added.

A certain @crazyangelie, in a Twitter post, shared Gabriel's sentiment by saying: "And now the staff of that bar will have no work. The party goers and the bar owners should be the ones punished for this."

Their reactions came after several social media "influencers" who have tens of thousands of followers on their social media accounts, flouted quarantine protocols by partying without social distancing despite threats of COVID-19 inside Ciso's Gastrobar, which eventually led to the establishment’s closure.

The violation was only discovered by the local government on Sunday after one of them posted a series of videos on his Instagram account showing themselves violating various health measures that went viral on social media.

In an interview with Teleradyo on Monday, the city's Task Force Disiplina head, Rannie Ludovica, said they would still consult with its legal department regarding the accountability of the violators as they were not caught red handed.

"Titingnan po ng legal namin paano mapapanagot ang mga individuals na ito para 'di na ho pamarisan (Our department is looking at how we could hold these individuals liable, so no other people would follow them)," he said, "Kung on-site namin sila nakita, may pananagutan. Pero iinvite po namin (If they were caught on site, they would have been liable. But we already invited them)."

Because of this, calls to "deplatform" the so-called influencers were raised online with some saying that "they don't deserve to be called influencers."

"Slam them with hefty fines and imprisonment just like ordinary citizens when they violate the law," said AlDron Mag-apan in Manila Bulletin's Facebook post's comments section.

"And they claimed to be influencers? You mean, bad influencers? What a shame," added Prince Puaso.

The local government has yet to release the identities of the violators, but some netizens who know them by face already disclosed their names on various social media platforms.

In May, 2020, 18 individuals, including several University of the Philippines students, were jailed while supposedly conducting a feeding program for violating health protocols by mass gathering along Kalayaan Ave. in Quezon City. Police said they violated the quarantine measures when they rallied and raised their placards with messages of "grievances." The city prosecutor's office eventually dismissed the charges against them for lack of probable cause.

Meanwhile, the "influencers" who violated the health protocols remain unaccountable over the incident. The local government on Tuesday said they are already under investigation by the City Legal.

"Bakit pa kailangang i-consult kung malinaw na malinaw ang violation?! Andaming naparusahan at nakulong on the spot na karaniwang mamayan, eto mga estupidong 'influencers' ikokonsulta pa?! (Why does the local government still have to consult about their violation when it is explicit? A lot of ordinary people have been punished and jailed on the spot, but when it comes to this stupid influencer, they still have to consult?)" a certain Tere Mortero said on Facebook.