Flag flies at half staff in front of the Negros Occidental Capitol. Carla Gomez / Inquirer Visayas
BACOLOD CITY –– The head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Negros Occidental died at past 11 p.m. on Wednesday after being infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Ferdinand Panes, 60, died at the St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo, where he suffered a heart attack, said Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.
Panes went home to Iloilo on Oct. 2. He was diagnosed with COVID-19.
He was intubated at the St. Paul’s Hospital.
Diaz said about 30 DILG staff members in Negros Occidental were also tested for COVID-19.
One casual employee tested positive for COVID-19, and was quarantined at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia town.
The Philippine flag at the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City was flown at half-mast in honor of Panes.