Cebuana beauty queen, BF quarantined after posting P48,000 bail each for ECQ raps

CEBU CITY—The Cebuana beauty queen and her Spanish boyfriend, who were arrested for going out for a swim in alleged violation of lockdown rules, were released from police jail after posting bail of P48,000 each.

Maria Gigante and boyfriend Javier Filosa Castro, a Spanish national were released from police custody around 4 p.m. on Wednesday (May 13).

But they were not allowed to return home yet.

Col. Roderick Mariano, chief of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said the two lovers have to undergo a 14-day quarantine at an isolation facility in Argao town, south Cebu.

“The quarantine started today (Thursday, May 14) and we will be monitoring whether or not they comply with the protocols,” he said in an interview.

Mariano warned Gigante and Castro against violating terms of the 14-day quarantine, which would mean more charges against them.

“If you’ll escape, then we will file more cases against you,” the police official said.

Gigante, 26, and Castro, 35, are facing charges of violating Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code for resistance and disobedience to a person in authority, and falsification of documents in court.

They were arrested last May 10 for heading to the beach in Moalboal town, southwest Cebu, violating the quarantine restrictions imposed by the government as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19.

The two lovers allegedly refused to heed the police directive to go straight to their destination and instead violated the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed by the government.

Investigators also found that Gigante and Castro did not actually have an authority from the party-list group Public Safety Alliance for Transformation and Rule of Law (PATROL) to distribute relief goods in southern Cebu as the couple claimed.

They were able to make it past border checkpoints after showing a purported letter from the PATROL party-list group authorizing them to distribute relief goods. The party-list group disowned the letter.

Edited by TSB