CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—An officer of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) here is facing charges for allegedly threatening health workers of the local government, who had been taking respiratory samples for coronavirus tests.
Mayor Oscar Moreno on Tuesday (Sept. 15) ordered the filing of complaints against the BJMP officer.
Moreno said these would include criminal and administrative charges.
“We’ll leave it to the police and prosecutor, as warranted,” he added.
Medical technologists from the City Health Office taking respiratory samples for tests inside the BJMP regional office last Sept. 10 have complained to police that they were allegedly threatened by a BJMP officer.
The health workers took a new set of samples from one of the BJMP employees who had tested positive for SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The complainants said a group of three BJMP officers asked about the result of their tests and, when told there was a delay in the processing of samples, one of them got angry.
Police said the health workers heard one of the BJMP officers cock his firearm twice and saw it as a form of threat.