MANILA — Police presence at hotels does not absolve its personnel of negligence over the violation of quarantine protocols, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday ordered the deployment of policemen to quarantine hotels after at least 2 travelers from abroad cut short their required isolation.

He said hotel personnel have "no authority nor the power" to physically deter those in isolation, and that "it would not be legally correct to go after the hotel owners or the managers" in case of violations.

Duterte's acting spokesman Karlo Nograles said under the Notifiable Diseases Act, hotel personnel are "duty-bound to at the very least report" quarantine violators.

He added that law enforcers would be deployed to hotels to prevent aggression from violators.

"It does not remove or absolve them (hotel management) of their negligence – the omissions of their act, the non-reporting... Cases will be filed, the cases will be prosecuted and then it will be up to the judge to decide," he said in a press briefing.

Authorities earlier reported that a Filipina traveler from the US left her quarantine hotel and partied the next day. She and several of her close contacts later tested positive for COVID-19.

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The tourism department on Monday said another Filipino was caught violating quarantine protocols after posting on social media about going for a massage session.

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The Philippine National Police needs to deploy some 597 policemen to guard 257 quarantine facilities in Metro Manila. These personnel could come from Mobile Force Battalion or those assigned at checkpoints, said Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya.

"Hindi po mahirap (it is not difficult) on the part of the Philippine National Police to deploy these 594 police officers sa mga (to the) quarantine facilities," he said during the Palace briefing.