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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed the criminal complaint for alleged violation of quarantine protocols filed against Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III last year.
Lawyer Honey Delgado, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said that the complaint filed by lawyer Reco Paolo Quicho was dismissed for lack of probable cause.
Quicho specifically accused Pimentel of violating Section 9 (e) of the Republic Law (RA) 11332, or the “Mandatory notification of diseases and health events of public interest.”
Quicho, a former Makati University Law School, filed the complaint after Pimentel reportedly entered the Makati Medical Center (MMC) facility to accompany his wife who was about to give birth despite of having prior knowledge that you were suspected of being infected with the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19).
In a 19-page resolution, Delgado said that the investigating prosecutor maintained that Quicho was not the appropriate party to file the complaint and that the evidence he presented was merely hearsay.
“News reports, being hearsay evidence, cannot be considered as evidence of the allegations in the complaint or as evidence of the truth, because they were simply learned, read, or heard from others,” the DOJ said.
Likewise, the DOJ held that Pimentel is not a public health authority that may be related to the Department of Health or the Department of Investigations or the Office of Epidemiology, so it is not required to report under RA 11332.
“Mandatory reporting under RA 11332 was intended solely for public health authorities,” he said.
The DOJ explained that even assuming that as a private individual he was mandated to report his medical condition under said law, there was nothing to report then when he went to the S&R supermarket in Bonifacio Global City on March 16 or to the Makati Medical City Hospital. . on March 24, 2020, as he only learned of his Covid-19 positive status on the same day, while in hospital.
“There is no ‘non-cooperation’ under Section 9 [e] de RA considered ‘cooperative’ when he left the hospital facilities immediately after receiving the information about his health status ”, he added.
Delgado said the DOJ considered the recommendation of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which also conducted a separate investigation into the incident for the case to be closed and rescinded.
