Party guests, plane passengers alerted after COVID-19-positive singer died

Bautista

MANILA, Philippines — Guests who attended the 65th birthday party of a certain Ms Emy on March 11 at La Piazza Hotel and Convention Center in Legazpi City, Albay, as well as passengers of two Cebu Pacific flights, were alerted to take necessary precautions following the revelation that Joey Bautista, lead singer of the band Mulatto who was said to have been present at the event, had tested positive of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and died on March 19.

Bautista was 50.

Mulatto was the guest band at the party. Bautista “did not perform,” as his wife Belinda Bagatsing said on her Facebook page on March 20, but she later edited her post to include: “He was in Legazpi.”

Nursing a fever

Photos sent to the Inquirer by concerned citizens showed Bautista was, indeed, with the band at the Legazpi Airport and in a restaurant at La Piazza.

Sources told the Inquirer that Bautista had been nursing a fever when he flew with the band to Legazpi to attend the birthday party.

The band’s flight details were as follows: Cebu Pacific 5J 327, Manila-Legazpi, March 10, 5-6:30 p.m.; and 5J 326, Legazpi-Manila, March 12, 3:10-4:25 p.m.

“I knew he was diabetic and he suffered a mild stroke sometime last year. Recently, I heard he was a person under monitoring for COVID-19,” said TV director and former Mulatto manager Bert de Leon.

Have a check-up

Bagatsing also said on her Facebook post that Bautista underwent swab tests and died of pneumonia before it was confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19.

She requested everyone who had been around her and Bautista in the last 30 days to monitor themselves and have a checkup if they don’t feel well.

“I have no symptoms and [I’m] under quarantine for 21 days,” she said on Facebook.

The Inquirer has been trying to contact her, but she has not responded.

As of March 22, the Department of Health said there were 380 COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths in the Philippines.