A barangay chairman in Marikina City will face charges for causing panic after he disseminated false information on coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Barangay Tumana Chairman Ziffred Ancheta got the ire of Mayor Marcy Teodoro for making an announcement, via Facebook live, that a resident of Barangay Tumana has contracted COVID-19. He went live on Facebook around 1 p.m. on March 19, 2020.
Marikina City Health Office (CHO), and the Rescue 161 belied what Ancheta announced.
Dr. Alberto Herrera, City Health Officer, said that subject PUI (Person Under Investigation), who was working as a security guard in Greenhills, is not a COVID-19 positive or confirmed case.
He noted that COVID-19 Policy and Protocol, under the existing Data Privacy Act, any vital information about a patient should not be disclosed, saying that only DOH can disclose any COVID patient through the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of the DOH.
Moreover, DOH should be the one to inform the concerned local government unit, CHO, and its City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU), to conduct the health intervention such as contact tracing, monitoring of the members and relatives contacted of the positive patient within 48 to 72 hours, disinfection activity and other health preventive and control measures.
In a letter to DILG City OIC Director Alona Raymundo, Rescue 161 Chief Dave David said what Ancheta did was “IN DIRECT VIOLATION of the protocol set forth by the DOH in informing the public about Covid case thereby causing fear, panic, and trauma to residents of Barangay Tumana.”
With this, Teodoro appealed to the public to be responsible in sharing information on social media.
“I am urging everyone to be responsible when posting on social media, especially about COVID-19,” he said adding that everyone must come together as one family help each other in this trying times.