ANGELES City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, Jr. denounced Saturday, March 14, officials of ride-haling platform Grab Philippines for being allegedly “uncooperative” with the city government in back tracing the passengers of a Grab driver believed to be one of those who tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). This comes amidst the state of public health emergency currently being faced by the country.
In a post in its Facebook page, the City Information Office said the driver of a Mitsubishi Mirage vehicle with Plate Number 6989 has transported passengers to and from Manila, Angeles City, and Pampanga areas, which prompted local authorities to reach out to Grab to back trace passengers who may have been exposed.
Lazatin denounced the behavior of Grab officials as “unacceptable considering that safety of our constituents is at stake and that of their other passengers especially now that the country is under Code Red Sublevel 2.”
“The Grab officials cited protocols and confidentiality. They told me that DOH is the proper agency to handle it, not the LGU. I even reminded them of Proclamation 922 of President Duterte that LGUs are mandated to prevent the spread of the disease but my plea fell on deaf ears,” Lazatin said.
Lazatin said that to be able to combat this pandemic, “we need everyone’s cooperation and support. “This is not the time to think of their business.”
Meanwhile, Lazatin is appealing to passengers who rode the said vehicle to report to the city government for monitoring and assistance. (PR)