Persons who are confirmed, probable and suspected coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases face fines and imprisonment in Muntinlupa if they deliberately withhold information and lie about relevant details.
This is contained in Muntinlupa Ordinance 2020-088, the “Anti-Patient’s Dishonesty Ordinance of 2020,” approved by the City Council and signed by Mayor Jaime Fresnedi.
The ordinance aims to protect health workers from getting infected with the virus due to untruthful declaration of patients.
Under the measure, it is illegal for persons who are confirmed, probable or suspected COVID-19 cases to deliberately lie, commit dishonesty and withhold information including address, travel history, symptoms experienced and medical condition.
They are advised to truthfully accomplish information data form, declaration and other documents, and disclose relevant information that may be asked by health workers, hospital employees, medical officers or quarantine officers.
Those found violating the ordinance will be fined P5,000, do community service for 30 days and face imprisonment of up to nine months. Those unable to pay the fine will be required to do community service or be imprisoned depending on the court’s decision.
Muntinlupa City Health chief Dr. Teresa Tuliao said persons under investigation should disclose relevant information during the COVID-19 testing.
“For PUIs/suspects who will undergo the testing, we implore that you give the City Health Office your genuine address and contact number. As you provide misleading information, you are wasting valuable time when we do contact tracing,” said Tuliao.
To date, the Muntinlupa City Health Office has tested 92 suspect cases as part of the city’s COVID-19 mass testing. The samples will be processed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang.
As of April 17, there are 115 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Muntinlupa, including 14 recovered cases and 17 deaths.
There are also 102 probable and 102 suspect cases.
The upscale Bgy. Ayala Alabang is still with the most number of confirmed cases with 30 followed by Putatan with 17; Cupang, 16; Sucat, 14; Poblacion, 11; Tunasan, 10; Bayanan, 8; Alabang, 6; and Buli, 3.(Jonathan Hicap)
