Media tour to Caballo Island on hold

Caballo Island. AP FILE PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A media tour to Caballo Island supposedly set this week was put on hold amid criticisms of the recent visit of military and health officials last Sunday to the quarantine area for the Filipino peacekeepers from Ebola-stricken Liberia.

“For the meantime ’di na. Baka we will add more anxiety and misunderstanding we will just hold it for a while,” Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. told reporters here.

He said their recent visit was meant to underscore that the country is Ebola-free.

Filipino peacekeepers that arrived from Liberia last week are staying on Caballo Island, where they will be placed on a 21-day quarantine.

They have previously passed the Ebola screening conducted by the United Nations before their repatriation. Although one developed a fever, further tests showed that the patient was negative for Ebola but was diagnosed to have malaria.

Almost 5,000 people have died from the deadly virus where the peacekeepers came from and stayed for almost a year.

A visit led by Catapang and acting Health Secretary Janette Garin last Sunday to the peacekeepers drew flak for supposedly disregarding protocol on Ebola.