ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — The office of the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority and Freeport (Ecozone) has been on lockdown for almost a week now as its top official and several employees were on self-isolation there.
Ecozone chair Raul Regondola said he and 10 employees went on quarantine in the facility after one staff tested positive for SARS CoV2 which causes COVID-19.
In an advisory, the Ecozone management said the temporary office shutdown began on Sept. 21, to give way to disinfection, which is expected to be completed by Sunday, Sept. 27.
Regondola told the Inquirer by phone that the employees who got infected with COVID-19 took a company van along with some colleagues and 10 people were traced to have been in close contact with the patient, including himself.
Regondola denied that the infection in the Ecozone premises was triggered by a gathering for his 60th birthday last Sept. 17.
“I told my staff, I am not going to celebrate my birthday, I don’t want to be a Sinas,” Regondola said, referring to Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, who became controversial due to a mañanita during his birthday.
However, Regandola’s staff prepared a lunch party in time for his birthday as if to surprise him, Regondola said.
He said that the 79 Ecozone employees who attended the lunch had been observing proper health protocols.
But a netizen, identified as Alice Deocampo, shared photos of the party and claimed that after two days, five employees got ill.
Regondola clarified to the Inquirer that only two among those who attended the party tested positive for COVID-19.
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