Bulacan gov, SBMA chief bury hatchet over COVID-19 checkpoint case

CITY OF MALOLOS— Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Wilma Eisma have mended fences after she barred him from the Subic Freeport on his way to Bataan province on May 8.

Eisma barred Fernando’s convoy to assert lockdown protocols allowing only relief and cargo vehicles through SBMA checkpoints.

Fernando was on his way to a cousin in Morong town in Bataan to bring money for the relative’s dialysis treatments as well as aid for Bulacan residents stranded there when his convoy was stopped at the quarantine checkpoint inside SBMA after 3 p.m.

Fernando said he was made to wait for almost two hours only to be told by Eisma that he could not be permitted to pass.

The governor said he had asserted that he was classified as an Authorized Person Outside of Residence (APOR) under the Omnibus Guidelines on Community Quarantine, and should have been allowed to cross the checkpoint to perform his duties.

In a May 24 press statement released by the Bulacan Provincial Public Affairs Office on Sunday (May 24), Fernando said he and Eisma have made up and will let go of the dispute.

“I heeded her wishes for understanding when she reached out. We have discussed the matter and mutually chose to respect and understand each other’s positions,” Fernando said in Filipino.

“We were both hurt and were both victims of circumstances. But in the end, we were both undertaking our duties. Like her I reach out for unity,” the governor said.

Fernando said he was attacked online for the incident, which he said saddened him after being belittled for his former career as a movie and television actor.

Edited by TSB