Gwyneth Anne Chua, known as the "Poblacion Girl," pleaded guilty for violating Covid-19 quarantine protocols when she skipped the government-mandated quarantine procedures upon returning to the country from the US last December, the Makati City Prosecutor's Office said Monday, Sept. 5.

Chua, accompanied by her parents and counsel appeared before Judge Maureen Rubio Marquez of Makati City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 128 where she pleaded guilty for violating Republic Act 11332 or the "Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act."

A P20,000 fine has been set for Chua for her violation.

No one from Chua's camp gave any statement to the media.

Meanwhile, the case filed against Berjaya Hotel security guard Esteban Gatbonton, the guard who allegedly helped Chua skip her quarantine, will continue as he pleaded not guilty against the charge.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Gatbonton's lawyer Jose Bernas said “That kind of accusation necessarily assumes that he has the obligation to detain. I don’t see where the obligation is and I don’t think that he has the power to detain or even to restrain."

He added that Chua's guilty plea will not affect his client's case saying that the two cases are separate.

“It’s irrelevant. Someone might plead guilty simply for expediency...A guilty plea does not necessarily mean an admission of guilt. It’s just an acceptance of the penalty,” Bernas said.

On Dec. 23, 2021, Chua was seen partying in Poblacion, Makati, just two days into her mandatory quarantine at the Berjaya Hotel after arriving from the US.

She then tested positive for Covid-19 where 15 of her close contacts also contracted the virus.

The complaint against the suspect's parents and her boyfriend, Rico Atienza, was dismissed as “there was insufficient evidence to establish that they have violated the provisions of RA 11332."