Faces of the News: Eric Yap

ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap’s announcement on Wednesday night that he had contracted the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused a lot of concern among those he had contact with in the past two weeks—and there were many.

Between the day he got tested and when he received the results, the House appropriations chair had visited Malacañang to meet Cabinet officials, House and Senate leaders, and attended a special session of Congress. Yap apologized to the officials, who later also went into self-quarantine.

But the Presidential Security Group threatened to file charges against Yap for not declaring he might be at risk.

Then, in a bizarre turn of events on Friday, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine apologized to the lawmaker, cited a clerical error, and said Yap was actually negative for the virus.

Yap graciously accepted the apology.