Army general dies inside crowded Zamboanga del Sur hospital
Brig. Gen. Bagnus Gaerlan Jr.
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — A ranking military official succumbed to COVID-19 inside the crowded Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center (ZDSMC) as Mindanao battled the surge of COVID-19 cases and most health-care facilities were swamped with patients.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines announced the death of Brig. Gen. Bagnus Gaerlan Jr., the assistant division commander of the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division on Monday.
He was 55, a year shy of mandatory retirement.
Capt. Mary Jephte Mañebog, Tabak Division spokesperson, said Gaerlan tested positive for COVID-19 in an antigen test on Sept. 2, prompting them to bring him from the camp-based medical facility in Labangan town to Aisah Hospital at the provincial capital Pagadian City.
But the hospital had run out of rooms and Gaerlan was brought to ZDSMC, where he was immediately placed under the intermediate care unit. A reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on Sept. 3 confirmed he was positive for COVID-19, Mañebog said.
At 5:19 a.m. on Monday, Gaerlan died of acute respiratory failure secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia, ZDSMC chief Dr. Anatalio Cagampang Jr. confirmed to the media.
Big loss
Gaerlan was the latest COVID-19 fatality in the province, which has been experiencing a surge in cases. The active infections in Zamboanga del Sur as of Sunday stood at 1,886 while five persons died on the same day, health authorities reported.
Gaerlan’s death came only days after the hospital declared a timeout.
A month after it ran out of COVID-19 beds, ZDSMC continued treating patients inside tents and cars parked outside the hospital building. But on Saturday, the hospital said they could no longer take any more patients as they were operating beyond their capacity.
Mañebog said that on Sunday, Tabak Division recorded 34 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Most of the cases were soldiers from the subunits who were programmed for schooling and were required to undergo RT-PCR testing.
Gaerlan, who was from San Juan, La Union province, graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1989. He served as the brigade commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade based in the town of Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay, covering the provinces of Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental, from June 2018 until Aug. 19, 2019, when he was installed in his current position.
In Zamboanga City, the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) mourned his death.
“We were all shocked and saddened by his passing,” said Maj. Alfie Alonzo, Westmincom spokesperson. “He was a good officer. This is a big loss for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
Alonzo said Gaerlan was already fully vaccinated with the China-made Sinovac vaccine.
This developed as more local government units in Mindanao are considering placing their areas under stricter quarantine status just to stop the surge of COVID-19 cases that already overwhelmed health-care facilities in their area.
Stricter lockdown
Among them, Davao Oriental province has opted to go on a stricter quarantine starting Wednesday, amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the area known for its bucolic beach resorts.
The decision to place Davao Oriental province, including its capital city of Mati, under enhanced community quarantine was reached through a consensus among its 11 mayors and Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang in an emergency meeting on Friday to address the surge, according to a statement released by the Mati city information office.
