Returned OFW in Catanduanes may be charged for presenting fake quarantine certificate

Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua said an overseas Filipino worker who recently returned to their province could face civil and criminal charges for presenting a fake quarantine certificate. 

Cua learned from the local Bureau of Quarantine that a certain OFW beneficiary of their Balik Happy Island Program who arrived last June 8 might be COVID-19 positive. After further checking, they found that the quarantine certificate of the said OFW showed signs of falsification. 

The OFW arrived in the Philippines on May 23 and was quarantined in a Makati hotel. He was transported to Tabaco City in Albay on June 6 where he presented the said quarantine certificate dated June 5. He stayed in Tabaco until he arrived at a quarantine facility in Catanduanes on June 8.

Specimens for PCR testing were already collected from the OFW and other people he had contact with. They remain under quarantine and monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms. 

Governor Cua advised the Philippine Coast Guard in Catanduanes to implement stricter inspection of documents of returning OFWs as well as locally stranded individuals. 

Catanduanes had only recorded one positive case of COVID-19 and the said patient has already recovered.