Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin at a recent meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council-3. Photo courtesy of Jun Jaso/Pampanga PIO
ANGELES CITY – Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. denounced officials of Grab Philippines for allegedly being uncooperative with the city government in back tracing the passengers of a Grab driver believed to be one of those who tested positive for Covid-19.
Pampanga Gov. Dennis G. Pineda in a press briefing tonight announced that the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Pampanga is a Grab driver.
“This comes amidst the state of public health emergency currently being faced by the country,” said a press statement from the Angeles City said a post in the Facebook account of the Angeles City Information Office.
According to the post, the driver of a Mitsubishi Mirage vehicle with plate number 6989 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 lamented.
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.”
The mayor made an appeal to passengers who rode the said vehicle to report to the city government for monitoring and assistance.
