The Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS) has junked the complaint of breaching quarantine protocols against Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III over lack of adequate basis.
In a statement of the Office of the Prosecutor General, Pimentel is not obligated to follow the mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases because he is not a public health authority. If Pimentel needed to report his medical condition, he had nothing to report when he proceeded to the hospital on March 24, 2020 since he only knew that he tested positive for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) the time he was inside the hospital on the same date.
The fiscal also believes that there has been cooperation on the side of the Senator as he immediately exited the premises when he learned of his condition.
The complainant, Attorney Rico Quichjo has also no legal standing to file the complaint based only on news or “hearsay evidence.”
Senator Pimentel has gladly accepted the decision.
“That decision is unassailable and correct. Tama naman ‘yan (That is correct). The complaint criminally charged me for violation of non-penal Department of Health (DOH) issuances which are not even addressed to me.”
He added that the person who filed the complaint was “not even anywhere near him or the place of incident”.
Quicho was dismayed over the DOJ’s decision.
“Bulag, pipi at bingi ang DOJ. Taumbayan na ang huhusga. (The DOJ is blind, mute, and deaf. The public will be the judge.)” – Report from Kenneth Paciente
