Quarantined Pinoys enjoy freebies, fried chicken

MANILA, Philippines - The four Filipinos held in a Hong Kong hotel won’t leave the plush inn empty-handed. As the week-long quarantine in the four-star Metropark Hotel is lifted on Friday, travellers and tourists staying there would each receive Hong Kong Ocean Park and Mass Transit Railway (MTR) tickets for free. Already, the accommodation charges of more than 200 guests of the hotel in Wanchai have been waived by the Hong Kong government to prevent foreigners from being spooked by the outbreak of the deadly A(H1N1) virus (‘swine flu’). “Four Filipinos presently quarantined at the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai … will be released," the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong earlier said. Last week, Hong Kong reported the first case of A(H1N1) infection in Asia as a Mexican tourist visiting the Chinese province was diagnosed with swine flu on May 1. [See: Hong Kong reports Asia's 1st confirmed swine flu case] The Philippine nationals are identified as a Filipina who was billeted at the hotel with her son and her Australian husband; a Filipina from Cebu; and another Filipina from a third country. Chicken, please? After being locked up in the hotel room for days, the Cebuana hotel guest requested the Philippine Consulate’s office to bring her a familiar Filipino meal. Consul General Claro Cristobal reported that the Filipina from Cebu requested their office for some deep-fried breaded chicken, which they willingly provided. “The Consulate staff again visited the four Filipinos and brought them polvoron and cracker nuts for snacks," a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs added. Meanwhile, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.’s (PLDT) SMART 1528 and Vodafone Smartone’s Barkadahan sa Smartone agreed to the Philippine Consulate’s request for them to issue regular SMS (text) broadcasts to remind the Filipino community to take precautionary measures. [See: How to warn Pinoys in HK vs 'swine flu'? Text them] Cristobal also said HKSARG requested the post to review the Filipino version of a pamphlet on A/H1N1. “Post made revisions and submitted the enclosed pamphlet to the government," he said. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV