The Quezon City government will be filing charges against a manning agency for its failure to help a Coronavirus Disease 2019 positive worker, who was waiting for his deployment overseas.
The patient from Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu province was forced to use public transport to travel to Quezon City Hall and seek assistance from the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
The patient has been staying in the city since February 21 while waiting for his deployment abroad from the manning agency identified as Staffhouse Manpower Office.
Last March 18, 2021, he underwent RT-PCR test at the Delos Santos Hospital where he joined 20 other applicants from Staffhouse. When the patient received his positive result the following day, the other residents of the house where the patient has been staying asked him to leave and look for another place to stay.
The patient sought help from his manning agency, but he was told to go home. Nowhere to go, the patient rode a public transport to Quezon City Hall and asked for assistance from the DRRMO. He was immediately brought to a quarantine facility via ambulance with the help of the DRRMO employees.
City Legal Officer Atty. Orlando Casimiro stated that the agency violated Republic Act No. 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
“The city government will also file a complaint before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) against the company, being a manpower agency sending Filipinos abroad,” Casimiro further detailed.
Meanwhile, Mayor Joy Belmonte, ordered the Business Permits and Licensing Department to cancel the business permit of the QC-based manpower firm.
“We won’t let this act go unpunished. Inilagay ng manning agency na ito sa panganib ang buhay ng pasyente pati ang napakaraming residente ng lungsod (The manning agency placed the lives of the patient and residents of the city in danger),” Belmonte concluded. — Allan Francisco
