BACOLOD City – Residents refusing to provide truthful information when undergoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test could face sanctions, the City Legal Office (CLO) warned.
A man who was later found to be a COVID-19 carrier provided false information about his place of residence.
He declared in the case investigation form (CIF) that his current address is in Bacolod City when he is actually living in Silay City, Negros Occidental.
“He is being held liable for violation of Republic Act (RA) 11332, or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act,” according to retired Police Major General Melquiades Feliciano, the chief implementer of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas.
Entry of untruthful data is prohibited under the law, Feliciano reiterated.
After the patient tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 14, contact tracing was conducted.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy for medical services, said that it took more than a day for the contact tracers to locate him as he was found only after the city collaborated with the Provincial EOC and other cities and municipalities.
“It was then that the truth came out,” Sorongon said, adding that every person who subjects himself to a COVID-19 swab test must tell the truth.
When undergoing a swab test, an individual is required to fill out a CIF, which contains the information necessary for contact tracing should the swabbed individual eventually test positive for Covid-19.
“We are in the state of pandemic, a public health emergency. The information that we provide should be truthful and accurate because these information are used to prevent the further spread of the outbreak,” Sorongon said.
Among the prohibited acts under Section 9 of RA 11332 are “tampering of records or intentionally providing misinformation” and “non-cooperation of the person or entities identified as having the notifiable disease, or affected by the health event of public concern.”
Disclosure of untruthful data in the CIF is among the prohibited acts, the CLO said.
Violators shall be penalized with a fine ranging from P20,000 to P50,000, or imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than six months, or both, at the court’s discretion.
As of Monday night, Bacolod has 4,629 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 3,899 recoveries, 614 active cases, and 116 deaths. (With a report from PNA/PN)
