Iligan vice mayor, councilor tested positive for COVID-19

ILIGAN CITY –– Two top officials of the city have admitted to having contracted the new coronavirus as cases here continue to surge in the last three weeks.

Iligan City Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz confirmed on Tuesday that he tested positive for SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Vera Crus is tagged as patient IC326 and, per a report of the Emergency Operations Center Health Cluster, is the 249th case of local virus transmission in the city.

The vice mayor is said to have been exposed to city councilor Petronilo Pardillo, who also publicly revealed on Tuesday that he was infected with COVID-19.

In a social media post, Vera Cruz, 58, said he submitted himself on Sunday, August 31, for swabbing for a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test after learning that Pardillo tested positive for the virus.

“I have direct contact with Councilor Pardillo because of his weekly radio program and the latest meeting with the department heads, which was attended also by the mayor (Celso Regencia), Pardillo himself, and the department heads (of the city government),” Vera Cruz said.

Although he is infected, Vera Cruz said, he showed no symptoms and was feeling well.

Vera Cruz and Pardillo also attended the Iligan City council’s session on August 28, just before they were swabbed.

Pardillo, 70, is tagged as patient IC277 and the city’s 203rd case of local virus transmission.

His exposure could not be traced by health workers but Pardillo said he suspected that he got the virus from an employee of Iligan City Police Office who guested in his radio program for two Sundays.

The 45-year-old police officer’s test returned positive on August 26, and he was tagged as IC245.

Aside from Vera Cruz, also swabbed for testing for having direct exposure to Pardillo were Mayor Celso Regencia, Iligan City police director Col. Rolando Cuya, other city councilors, and local government officials.

“That time, I had a lot of guests. They were from the DepEd (Department of Education) and Collegio de Iligan. I also attended on August 26 the opening of the isolation facility with other local government officials,” Pardillo said.

Speaking on local radio from the hospital where he is confined, Pardillo said he was getting better and no longer experiencing fever and other symptoms.

The city is reverted to modified enhanced community quarantine status due to the surge of cases in the past three weeks.

LZB