BAGUIO CITY –– Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Wednesday said no health protocols were breached when the team of actor Piolo Pascual and film director Joyce Bernal visited the city recently.
In a statement, Magalong said Pascual, Bernal, and their crew were not given special treatment as the team was “made to wait in line and had to follow all the protocols set in place.”
The group tried to shoot video materials for the State of the Nation Address of President Duterte but were denied entry into Sagada town in Mountain Province on Sunday and Banaue town in Ifugao on Monday.
But Bernal and her companions were allowed to briefly visit the Kiangan National Shrine, also in Ifugao. The group then checked in at a hotel in this city.
“The group came to Cordillera on official business—Baguio being part of their itinerary,” Magalong said.
Magalong said the group wanted to highlight the Cordilleran heritage and had a permit from Malacañang.
“As Baguio has well-equipped triage stations, we are capacitated to screen persons who enter our borders. Our safety as a city was never put at risk. The group of Piolo Pascual and Dir. Joyce Bernal respected Baguio City and its protocols,” Magalong said.
He added: “Proof of how protocols were never violated [was that] the triage team documented the whole process.”