Calapan mayor: Sinas must be held responsible for his reckless behavior

Photo: Police Regional Office Mimaropa

MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on Saturday said Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas should be held responsible for his “reckless behavior” after violating screening protocols while being positive for COVID-19.

Mayor Arnan Panaligan said in a Facebook thread that Sinas failed to follow the screening protocols required for anyone traveling to the provinces.

“He should be made to answer and be held responsible for his reckless behavior,” wrote Panaligan, through his office’s official Facebook page, after one Mark Manato asked him about Sinas in the comments section.

Panaligan’s office announced on Facebook the COVID-19 situation in his city and it was on that post that Manato threw his query.

“He was tested before he flew here. It is SOP (standard operating procedure) that when one is tested, he must first go on quarantine and wait for the result. He failed to do that. When he came here, he did not tell us that he was waiting for the test result. Thus he was allowed entry.”

Sinas, who already threw a poorly-reasoned party at the start of the lockdown, did not pass through the Oriental Mindoro pier in Calapan where health clearances are issued and instead arrived by helicopter before proceeding to the PNP Regional Headquarters.

The PNP chief, who was always on the receiving end of criticisms ever since his “mañanita,” thus violated the very protocol that the national government put in place during the ongoing lockdown.

Panaligan said that the higher-ups at the Department of Interior and Local Government and Malacañang should reprimand Sinas.

“His superiors at DILG and Malacañang must take action against him.”

Calapan City, according to Panaligan, has 13 active COVID-19 cases with the latest involving a 58-year-old male from Barangay Sto. Niño.

/MUF