Resto management denies refusal to cooperate with city gov’t

The owners of Dova Brunch Café denied allegations that they refused to cooperate with the contract tracing efforts of the Iloilo City government.

In an official statement posted on their social media page on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, the management clarified that the contact tracing team did not reach out to them for the list of their employees.

“We also would like to stress that nobody from the contact tracing team has contacted the management directly asking for our list of employees,” the statement said.

The management of Dova made the clarification after Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas threatened to close Dova, Esca’s and Afrique’s restaurants for their purported refusal to cooperate with the COVID-19 contact tracing efforts of the city government.

“Owners (family) of Esca’s, Dova and Afrique’s tested positive for COVID-19. We have been trying to get their list of employees from them since last week. If they will still continue to refuse to cooperate with us within the hour, I will have their establishments closed,” Treñas warned on Monday.

The management also confirmed that seven of the family members of the restaurant owners tested positive for COVID-19.

But they explained that the infected family members never visited the restaurant, nor did they come in close contact with the staff of Dova.

“None of the seven family members who have tested positive have visited or had any close contact with the staff of Dova Brunch Cafe as they are not involved in the restaurants operations.”

Contact tracing was also initiated by the management on Dec 18, 2020 and employees of the restaurant were subjected to swab test.

The management said they are still awaiting the results of the swab test.

The restaurant temporarily ceased operations since Monday until further notice. (ERS)