Vivant Corp. CEO who was positive for COVID-19 passes away

CEBU CITY – The chief executive officer and chair of the Vivant Corporation, a Cebu-based power company that partly owned the Visayan Electric Company, passed away on Saturday due to complications related to the novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

According to the family statement, Dennis Garcia was hospitalized at the Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital on March 25 and was confirmed positive of COVID-19 on March 28, on the same day that he died at 6:38 p.m.

Garcia was cremated the following day in compliance with the guidelines of the Department of Health.

The statement said Garcia had prior respiratory health issues, specifically emphysema, before COVID-19 was a known issue.

Vivant Corporation is the second largest power distributor in the country, next to Meralco.

“Vivant is working with the Cebu City government to track his movements in the two weeks prior to his hospitalization in order to identify people he was in close contact with for monitoring, quarantine and possible testing. We will also make this information available to any other affected LGUs (local government units) and/or national agencies,” the statement said.