‘Poblacion Girl’ Put People In Jeopardy, Not Invited To The Night Out – Attendee

A member of the family who organized a night out attended by Gwyneth Anne Chua on Dec. 23 in Poblacion, Makati City bewailed the backlash they suffered after it came out that she skipped her quarantine.

Carlos Laurel told News5 on Wednesday, Jan. 5, said the photo of their group that was being shared on social media put them in a bad light and that his 14-year-old female cousin was being harassed by some netizens, threatening to do something indecent to her.

“People are treating us like… we had something to do with (what Chua did).” When in reality, we didn't even know she was going to be part of the dinner,” Laurel pointed out.

He stressed that they didn't do anything wrong as they followed all the health and safety protocols when they went out. “Apart from her eventually testing positive, if you take that out of the equation, it's just a normal dinner out and drinks after ‘di ba?”

Not invited

Laurel clarified that Chua and her boyfriend were not invited to the event.

He said Chua, who earned the moniker “Poblacion Girl” for jumping her quarantine, is the girlfriend of one of the friends of his younger cousin.

Laurel explained he and his cousins did not know that Chua and her boyfriend were coming as the dinner was supposed to be for his cousins and two other “dates.”

“None of us personally invited ‘Poblacion Girl.’ So when this situation blew up, or this incident, nagtaka kami. Sabi namin, what really happened ba kasi a lot of us are saying we didn't know they were coming pero dumating sila,” Laurel explained.

“As far as I knew, we were just going to be with the cousins plus that one or two dates,” Laurel said.

Chua arrived at the Berjaya Makati Hotel on Dec. 22 from the United States and skipped the required five-day quarantine to socialize. She later tested positive for COVID-19 and infected close contacts.

Laurel confirmed the dinner was held at the Mijo Comfort Food in Barangay Poblacion and that there were 12 to 14 persons who attended.

Laurel said Chua and her boyfriend arrived towards the end of the dinner and then they went to Kampai bar, also in Poblacion, where they ended up spending the rest of the night.

According to Laurel, Chua is not close to him. “The extent of our relationship is when we’re in…nights out, kapag nandyan ‘yung boyfriend, nandiyan si ‘Poblacion Girl,’” he noted.

He also said he did not know that Chua just arrived from the US because “why would anyone assume that people would not serve the quarantine since that's the standard protocol?”

He further said that upon entry of the establishment, they were asked to fill up electronic health declaration forms and show their vaccination cards. Their temperature was also taken.

“As far as we are concerned, even in the restaurant, there's proper social distancing, the seats were far apart, except that for when we took the picture siyempre magkatabi lahat ‘no,” Laurel said, referring to the photo of their group which is being circulated online.

Laurel claimed he was not able to interact much with Chua as he was too busy catching up with his cousins and his brother, who also just arrived from Scotland last Dec. 12 and who he had not seen in over a year.

‘COVID-positive’

According to Laurel, they found out that Chua jumped quarantine and got tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 27, four days after their party. “That morning kasi one of my cousins messaged our Telegram group. Sabi niya, si ‘Poblacion Girl’ tested positive.”

Laurel said they had themselves tested right after they learned that Chua got infected with the virus. He noted that at that point “not a lot tested positive, most were even negative.”

Laurel said he is doing good and his consecutive antigen tests yielded negative results as well as the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test that he took on Dec. 31.

But Laurel noted that more than his physical condition, the incident affected his mental and emotional health due to the criticisms they received on social media.

“Nakakahina talaga (It’s really frustrating) and there [are] some days where you just feel mabigat (heavy)…just reading the comments knowing you didn't do anything wrong,” Laurel said.

“But if you have to defend yourself to every single person, if they already paint you as the villain or the bad guy or the quarantine breacher, there’s not much you can do to change their mind,” he added.

Filing of cases still being discussed

Laurel said their family had been cooperating in the investigation of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

“Whenever they ask about details of the night or what happened, we answer to the best of our abilities,” he said. “I'm more than confident that the CIDG is capable of handling it on their own.”

He also disclosed that the CIDG advised them to file separate cases against Chua individually.

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, agents of the CIDG-National Capital Region filed a complaint against Chua and eight other respondents before the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office

for violating provisions of Republic Act No. 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.

Apart from Chua, the CIDG-NCR also included in the charge sheet her parents Allan Chua and Gemma Leonardo-Chua, after investigation revealed that they connived in getting her out of the hotel, where she was supposed to undergo the five-day mandatory quarantine.

Laurel said that he has not spoken to Chua and her family regarding the issue.

Laurel also noted that he and his cousins are more focused now on the health and well-being of their family members. “We also have parents that are worried and the last thing we want to do right now is put more burden (to them).”

He said they also do not want to put a spotlight on the situation more and that they are still discussing “the best course of action” to take following the incident.