‘Bato’ tests positive for COVID-19

FILE PHOTO. Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa during the virtual briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on the proposed P4.506 trillion 2021 National Expenditure Program, Wednesday, September 9, 2020. PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has tested positive for COVID-19, the latest senator to have been afflicted with the coronavirus.

“I’m sorry to inform you that I tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. To all who made contact with me, please do the appropriate protocols,” the senator said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s Facebook post on Saturday, Nov. 21.

In a text message to INQUIRER.net, the senator and former Philippine National Police chief said that he is currently experiencing a cough.

The senator added that aside from him, four members of his household, including his daughter, tested positive for SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“May ubo lang ako. Four kami [from d household nagpositive. Me, my eldest daughter, driver and househelp,” Dela Rosa told INQUIRER.net

(I have cough, four of us here in the household tested positive. Me, my eldest daughter, driver and househelp.)

Dela Rosa is the fifth senator to have a bout of coronavirus, after Senators Sonny Angara, Koko Pimentel, Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Bong Revilla.

Before dela Rosa confirmed his diagnosis, Zubiri, Senate Majority Leader, said during the Senate’s closing interpellation of the 2021 proposed national budget on Friday that a suspected case for COVID-19 was present in the Senate session hall last Wednesday.

Senator Richard Gordon, meanwhile, advised those who were exposed to undergo quarantine until Monday to see if they would manifest symptoms.

“If one of us got exposed to one of our colleagues, the incubation period is five days. So, we have to stay put [during] the five days and if we get the symptoms we immediately do something about it,” said Gordon, who also chairs the Philippine Red Cross.

EDV