A NOTICE of violation has been sent by the Baguio City government to The Manor at Camp John Hay, where the controversial birthday party of events manager Tim Yap was held last week.
This was disclosed by city mayor Benjamin Magalong in an interview with CNN Philippines’s The Source on Thursday, even as he noted, “There were safety officers going around with their placards saying ‘Wear your mask.’”
He added, “A letter of explanation was delivered two days ago, then yesterday [Wednesday], there was a notice of violation issued already… of City Ordinance 45 for not wearing a mask and City Ordinance 46 for physical distancing,” as well as guidelines on workplace prevention and control of Covid-19. The Department of Tourism (DOT)-Cordillera Administrative Region had also asked The Manor, an accredited tourism enterprise, to explain what transpired during the Yap’s birthday bash.
Magalong, dubbed the “contact-tracing czar,” also assured the public that there would not be any whitewash of the case, and all those who violated government’s health and safety regulations would be equally penalized. Those who don’t wear a mask in public are fined P1,000 for the first offense, he added, incrementally rising in terms of the number of offenses.
He said his wife, Arlene would also be fined for not wearing a mask. “I already told her,” adding that although she wore a mask at the gathering, “I guess she got starstruck with KC Concepcion,” and removed her mask while taking photos with the celebrity.
He added in a mix of Filipino and English, “all the guests were wearing their masks…but when the dancing happened, I guess people forgot themselves. Even I was so engrossed in my discussion with other guests — if you notice I wasn’t able to join the dancing — that it escaped me, on hindsight I realized there may have been violations already.”
Regarding his conversation with Yap, assuring him “not to worry,” Magalong said, “I just wanted to calm him because he was already very stressed out but it will not compromise [our investigation on] whatever his violations are…. He was very apologetic. They’re very much worried on the impact to Baguio and to me. [To Baguio residents] I would just to apologize to everyone…but rest assured we will not compromise the safety and health of everyone, at the same time we will no absolve anyone that’s clearly violating our laws, regulations, and ordinances.”