Senate locked down after three more senators get COVID-19

Facade of the Senate of the Philippines building. FILE PHOTO

Three more senators have contracted COVID-19, prompting Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to immediately order on Friday a temporary closure of the Senate offices in Pasay City to allow the disinfection of the entire building.

In separate statements, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senators Nancy Binay and JV Ejercito disclosed that they had tested positive for coronavirus, but were all asymptomatic.

This brought to seven the number of senators who caught the virus after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who has already recovered, tested positive on August 3.

Senators Imee Marcos, Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe were also sidelined by the respiratory disease.

Sen. Francis Escudero, on the other hand, was forced to skip the plenary sessions physically last week after he was exposed to a staff member who had COVID-19.

“In light of [the] recent events, I have instructed the [Senate] secretariat to conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfection of all Senate offices,” Zubiri told reporters.

“For this reason, there will be a total lockdown of our Senate building and all Senate employees shall work from home and need not report to the Senate on Monday,” he said.

The in-person Senate session, the Senate President said, will resume on August 23.

Last week, Zubiri issued an order prohibiting visitors from entering the Senate building for three weeks due to the recent spike in coronavirus cases in Metro Manila.

READ: Senate begins 3-week lockdown Aug. 15; visitors must show negative COVID test

Villanueva said he decided to take a COVID-19 test as he and his family were planning to take an out-of-town trip to celebrate his wife’s birthday this weekend.

“[My wife and our two children] are safe. I didn’t see them all week because we were supposed to travel,” Villanueva told the Inquirer.

Binay, who participated via Webex at the hearing of the Senate basic education committee on Friday, said it was actually her first time to contract the virus since the global pandemic started in early 2020.

“I am currently at home under self-isolation and strictly following recommended protocols, including health and safety procedures,” Binay said.

Ejercito said he had no symptoms and was even able to ride his bike when he submitted himself to an RT-PCR test on Thursday.