CRIMINAL charges will be filed against a Pinay traveler, also known as Poblacion Girl, by the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office who violated COVID-19 quarantine rules last December.
In a statement on Thursday, the prosecutor’s office said it found probable cause to charge Gwyneth Anne Chua of violating Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act”.
Also indicted was a guard at the Berjaya Hotel where Chua was staying when he assisted the girl to escape from the quarantine facility.”
Complaints were also filed against other Berjaya Hotel employees, as well as Chua’s parents and boyfriend, but these were dismissed for lack of probable cause and “insufficient evidence.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, the evidence against the other hotel employees failed to show that they knowingly allowed Chua to leave the hotel premises.
On Dec. 23, 2021, Chua was seen partying in Poblacion, Makati, just 2 days into her mandatory quarantine at the Berjaya Hotel after arriving from the US.
She later tested positive for COVID-19. Fifteen of her contacts were also confirmed infected. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that Chua admitted the violation.
The incident, which happened amid the threat of the then-new Omicron variant, went viral. Chua earned the moniker “Poblacion girl.”
