Illegal COVID-19 facility discovered inside Clark Freeport
Published May 20, 2020 12:00 am
By Donna Rempillo
CLARK FREEPORT ZONE – Clark Development Corporation (CDC) ordered the closure and full lockdown of the Fontana Resort and Convention Center, or the Fontana Leisure Park, here after a makeshift medical facility was discovered being operated by Chinese nationals to allegedly treat their compatriots afflicted with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
A security officer of Clark Development Corporation puts a police line across the entrance of one of the villas of the Fontana Resort and Convention Center at the Clark Freeport in Mabalacat City Wednesday, May 20. The leisure park was closed after a treatment facility for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in one of its villas. (CDC / MANILA BULLETIN)
Elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Regional Field Unit (CIDG-RFU), Philippine National Police Region 3 (PNP-3), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were accompanied by CDC officials when they swooped down on Florida 2, Villa 628 in the leisure park Tuesday, May 19.
Nabbed in the raid were Chinese nationals Ling Hu, 45, and the alleged owner of the facility, and a 38-year old pharmacist named Ms. Seung-Hyun Lee.
Both were taken to the PNP-3 Office at Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga.
CIDG intervened in the operation after the Department of Health (DOH) and FDA verified that no hospital or clinic had a permit to operate as a medical facility in the leisure park.
“The villa inside Fontana Leisure Park also violates quarantine and safety protocol since all are unreported to DOH,” said CIDG Region 3 Chief Col. Amante Daro.
Found at the villa were medicines with Chinese labels, which the FDA collected as these were unregistered and barred from public distribution.
“On site was an alleged admitted patient, a middle aged man,” said Daro.
The makeshift medical facility had seven beds, and had a kitchen-type laboratory which was where COVID-19 testing could have been conducted, as evidenced by used-rapid test kit syringes in the trash bins.
CDC said it strongly condemned the illegal activity, which not only violates the law but also danger to individuals who potentially need medical treatment for the deadly disease.
It assured stakeholders, locators and local communities, especially residents, that those involved will be punished and prosecuted accordingly.
A security officer of Clark Development Corporation puts a police line across the entrance of one of the villas of the Fontana Resort and Convention Center at the Clark Freeport in Mabalacat City Wednesday, May 20. The leisure park was closed after a treatment facility for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in one of its villas. (CDC / MANILA BULLETIN)
Elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Regional Field Unit (CIDG-RFU), Philippine National Police Region 3 (PNP-3), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were accompanied by CDC officials when they swooped down on Florida 2, Villa 628 in the leisure park Tuesday, May 19.
Nabbed in the raid were Chinese nationals Ling Hu, 45, and the alleged owner of the facility, and a 38-year old pharmacist named Ms. Seung-Hyun Lee.
Both were taken to the PNP-3 Office at Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga.
CIDG intervened in the operation after the Department of Health (DOH) and FDA verified that no hospital or clinic had a permit to operate as a medical facility in the leisure park.
“The villa inside Fontana Leisure Park also violates quarantine and safety protocol since all are unreported to DOH,” said CIDG Region 3 Chief Col. Amante Daro.
Found at the villa were medicines with Chinese labels, which the FDA collected as these were unregistered and barred from public distribution.
“On site was an alleged admitted patient, a middle aged man,” said Daro.
The makeshift medical facility had seven beds, and had a kitchen-type laboratory which was where COVID-19 testing could have been conducted, as evidenced by used-rapid test kit syringes in the trash bins.
CDC said it strongly condemned the illegal activity, which not only violates the law but also danger to individuals who potentially need medical treatment for the deadly disease.
It assured stakeholders, locators and local communities, especially residents, that those involved will be punished and prosecuted accordingly.