Mayor’s son, 5 cops positive for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — As more and more people test positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a mayor’s son and five Metro Manila policemen were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

In a statement on Monday, Caloocan City Councilor Vicente Ryan “Enteng ” Malapitan, son of Mayor Oscar Malapitan, said that he was now in quarantine after he received the results of his COVID-19 test.

He assured residents that his condition was stable and he was practicing the necessary measures to avoid infecting others.

“I am aware that carrying out my duties as an elected government official means that I cannot entirely avoid interacting with patients who possibly tested positive for COVID-19. Before I was even tested, I already practiced social distancing when communicating with other people,” the younger Malapitan said.

He also encouraged all those who had interacted with him from March 15 to practice self-quarantine as he assured residents that his father and brother, Rep. Dale “Along” Malapitan, were not infected.

The mayor earlier went into quarantine after he interacted with a patient who would later test positive during a March 5 event with other national and local government officials, including President Duterte, Sen. Christopher Go, Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian, Malabon Mayor Lenlen Oreta and Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco.

As of writing, Caloocan, the third most populous city in Metro Manila, has 28 confirmed cases, 187 persons under investigation and 341 persons under monitoring. Four have recovered while eight have died, the Caloocan Public Information Office said.

Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director, announced on Tuesday that there were five policemen who tested positive for COVID-19.

Two are assigned at the NCRPO headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, and one each at Southern Police District, Northern Police District, and Manila Police District.

The NCRPO did not say how the policemen were infected. Thousands of its members have been assigned to man checkpoints in Metro Manila to enforce a Luzon-wide lockdown and contain the spread of the virus.

Sinas said there were 42 NCRPO personnel considered as persons under investigation while 266 others were persons under monitoring, although 42 had already been cleared for showing no symptoms after 14 days.