Cebuanos warned: Be truthful or face charges

The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) warned the public to fill up health or contract tracing forms properly if they don’t want to face charges.

The EOC has a difficult time tracing clients of an establishment with positive cases as health declaration forms contained false information, like obvious fictitious names Bruce Wayne, Optimus Prime and Doctor Strange, all movie or comic characters.

EOC deputy chief implementer and

North District City Councilor Joel Garganera said those who will not provide accurate and proper information in contact tracing forms might be punished under Section 9(b) of Republic Act 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, and tampering of records or intentionally providing misinformation.

The act of providing accurate information in the health forms is a small but crucial contribution to help the city government prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Garganera said.

“However, we would like to shift the responsibility to the establishment to ensure that those entering their premises will provide accurate info because this is for their own good,” he said.

The EOC recommended that establishments ask for valid identification cards before entry and countercheck the forms.

We would like to shift the responsibility to the establishment to ensure that those entering their premises will provide accurate info because this is for their own good.

Mayor Edgardo Labella warned that putting false information in public documents, like health declaration forms, is punishable by law.

“That can be considered falsification of public documents. It is very important that they place the right information because that will help our contact tracers find them should the establishment have a positive COVID-19 case,” he said.

The EOC also warned government personnel they can be arrested if they don’t cooperate with the contact tracing or mandatory testing. Recently, two firefighters refused to be tested after they were identified as close contacts of a deceased COVID-19 case in Barangay Cogon Pardo.

All contacts who were in the wake were swabbed but the two firefighters who took the patient to the hospital refused.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CEBU CITY FACEBOOK AMID the coronavirus pandemic, Cebu City has not neglected its coastal areas as it conducted cleanup operations on Saturday.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BANGSAMORO GOVERNMENT RELIEF packs are unloaded for distribution to 12 villages in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.