PCG brings back OFW to treatment facility after escaping quarantine

One of the eight returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who tried to cut short their quarantine period by escaping from their designated facilities, has been taken back for treatment after testing positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while the rest are yet to be traced, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Monday.

Authorities were able to track down one of the escapees Monday in Quezon City, three days after he fled from his designated quarantine facility in a hotel in Pasay City. He is a 49year-old male, Coast Guard said.

He and the others left their designated quarantine facilities without knowing the result of their swab tests. It later turned out that he tested positive for the disease while the others were negative.

The search team from the SubTask Group for the repatriation of OFWs immediately brought him to a treatment facility while his family members and other persons he had personal contact with were put in isolation and are now undergoing COVID-19 RT-PCR testing.

The 49-year-old OFW has been staying at a Bureau of Quarantine-accredited isolation facility for four days when he fled. The Coast Guard said he would eventually face charges.

Operations to track down the other seven escapees are under way. Despite testing negative for the disease, once found, they will be taken back to the isolation facilities to complete their 14-day mandatory quarantine.

“The search operations for the seven other OFWs are ongoing. They will be arrested and face charges for violating quarantine protocols and for compromising the health and safety of their families and communities,” Commodore Armando Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman, said.

The Coast Guard noted that the eight OFWs, who escaped their designated quarantine facilities, were briefed on general quarantine protocols, underwent swab tests, and signed the “Affidavit of Undertaking” that they voluntarily submitted themselves to mandatory quarantine.