THE Makati City Prosecutors Office has found probable cause to indict Gwyneth Anne Chua, also known as “Poblacion Girl,” for skipping the government’s mandatory quarantine rule in December 2021.
In a resolution dated April 29, prosecutors ruled that Chua violated Section 9 of Republic Act 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, for “defying the directives of the authorities on mandatory quarantine.”
Chua was found guilty of deliberately violating quarantine rules after she left the Berjaya Hotel in Makati City where she checked in for her quarantine period. She arrived in the country from the United States on December 22 last year and was seen attending a party with friends in Poblacion, Makati the next day. Three days later, she tested positive for COVID-19.
Under health protocols in effect at the time, inbound passengers are mandated to undergo quarantine in government-designated facilities and are allowed to check out only after a negative RT-PCR test but will have to complete the 14-day quarantine period at home.
In the same resolution, prosecutors also recommended the filing of charges against Esteban Gatbonton, security officer of Berjaya Hotel, “for assisting the escape of Gwyneth to leave the hotel premises.”
The complaints against Chua’s parents and her boyfriend, Rico Atienza, were dismissed as there were insufficient evidence to establish that they violated the provisions of RA 11332.
Also dismissed are the complaints against Berjaya Makati Hotel Resident Manager Gladiolyn Biala, Assistant Front Office Manager Salvador Sabayo, Security Manager Tito Arboleda, and Front Desk Counter Personnel Hannah Araneta.
“The Makati City Prosecutors Office did not find probable cause as the evidence failed to show that they knowingly allowed Gwyneth to leave the hotel premises,” it said.
Other high-profile cases of quarantine breaches at the height of the pandemic include that of Sen. Koko Pimentel who accompanied his pregnant wife to the Makati Medical Center despite showing symptoms of the virus.
However, the case against Pimentel was junked by the Department of Justice.
Then Metro Manila police chief, Gen. Debold Sinas was also charged before the Taguig city prosecutors office after he held a birthday party in the police headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa when the metropolis was on lockdown and mass gatherings were prohibited.
There is no known update as to what happened to the case against Sinas.
