The Makati City government has shut down the Berjaya Hotel in Makati City after the Department of Tourism (DOT) ordered a suspension of its accreditation for failing to prevent a guest from breaching the quarantine policy.
Staff from the city hall’s Business Permits and Licensing Office delivered the closure order on Berjaya earlier this afternoon.
Don Camiña, Makati city legal officer, said in a statement that the DOT ordered a fine of P13,200 to the hotel and suspended its accreditation for three months.
Meanwhile, Berjaya Hotel slammed the closure order, stresing that it has no basis.
“The order by the Makati City Hall closing down Berjaya Makati Hotel’s operations based on the suspension order issued by the Department of Tourism is without legal basis,” it said in a statement.
It added that the DOT’s decision is not yet final because they were given 15 days to appeal.
“Meanwhile, the suspension is not in effect. Secondly, there is no law that penalizes a hotel for not reporting a guest who jumps quarantine,” the hotel said.
“There is nothing in R.A. (Republic Act) 13322 (sic) that is applicable to the hotel,” it added.
Berjaya was referring to RA 11322 or The Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
The hotel decried that it was not accorded due process before the closure order was handed down.
“Thirdly, we must be accorded due process and be allowed to explain before any penalty is imposed. We have not been given our day in court by the Makati City Hall,” it said.
The hotel management added that if the hotel was padlocked, it could not continue the quarantine protocol of their existing visitors.
“On the operations level, if we close down the hotel immediately, where do we send our present quarantine guests? We have 18 guests who have tested positive and who have yet to be pulled out by the Bureau of Quarantine, and 80 who are in the middle of their quarantine,” it said.
“We also have around 20 quarantine guests per week coming in and have paid in advance. The inconvenience to the public is incalculable, unnecessary and preventable,” it added. Ronald Espartinez