Guevarra to order probe, immigration lookout for released Chinese operators of raided hospital

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday he will order an investigation and an immigration lookout for the two Chinese nationals arrested at an allegedly illegal hospital if reports are true that they were released by police without charges.

"These two foreign nationals should have been brought to the inquest prosecutor instead of being released. If this is true, I will ask the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] to step in and do its own investigation, and instruct the BI [Bureau of Immigration] to look out for them," he said in a message to reporters.

This was the official's response when asked about a report that said the alleged administrator and the alleged pharmacist of the raided facility have been released.

Simon Wu, the assistant general manager of Fontana Development Corporation (FDC), has also said police have released the two without filing charges.

Guevarra said the Chinese nationals may be prevented from leaving the country if there are pending immigration or criminal cases against them.

Police officers recently raided a villa in the Fontana Leisure Park in Pampanga that was allegedly turned into a pharmacy and seven-bed hospital for Chinese nationals.

The BI has said its intelligence division will recommend visa cancellation and the deportation of the two Chinese nationals who were arrested at the facility.

FDC on Monday said it did not condone any illegal activity in the property. It also  clarified that the villa was transferred to and placed under the exclusive control of Shidaikeji Technology Corporation.

FDC's Wu said Shidaikeiji told them their clinic was being used to attend to their own employees. A Shidaikeiji representative reportedly said they were not running a COVID-19 clinic in the villa.

"According to Shidaikeiji, they are not operating as a COVID-19 clinic. As of today, there is no confirmed positive COVID-19 case, person under investigation (PUI) or person under monitoring (PUM) in Fontana," Wu said in a letter to the Clark Development Corporation. — BM, GMA News