LSI's DEATH. Caluya Mayor Regil Kent Lim (left) and Municipal Health Office chief, Dr. Anna Marie Villalobos (second from left), distribute medical supplies and protective personal equipment to village chiefs in an undated photo. Villalobos said on Tuesday (June 9, 2020) that the death of a locally stranded individual in Barangay Semirara is not due to Covid-19 but a heart attack. (Photo courtesy of Semirara LGU)
SAN JOSE DE BUEANAVISTA, Antique – The Municipal Health Officer (MHO) of the town of Caluya said the death of a coal mining worker who arrived in this province from Zambales is not related to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Dr. Anna Marie Villalobos, Caluya MHO chief, in an interview Tuesday, said the death of Ramon Santos Tubilla, 34, from Masinloc, Zambales, on June 8 was due to acute myocardial infarction or heart attack.
“He had no signs and symptoms of Covid-19 while undergoing quarantine,” she said.
Villalobos said the deceased who is considered as a locally stranded individual (LSI), worked at the Semirara Coal Mining Corporation (SMPC) in Barangay Semirara, Caluya town. He was supposed to return to work after going home to Zambales before the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was implemented in Antique last March.
The LSI underwent a rapid diagnostic test for Covid-19 in Zambales last May 22, and received a negative result.
“He had not yet undergone another RDT in Semirara," Villalobos said.
She said the LSI, as part of the health protocol being implemented in Antique, underwent a 14-day quarantine in an isolation facility after he arrived from Zambales via Caminawit, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro last June 4.
Villalobos, however, said that around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, the worker was found unconscious by his fellows inside their isolation facility.
“The other LSIs undergoing quarantine also tried to wake him up supposedly for a psycho-social support activity, but they found him no longer responding to them,” she said.
Villalobos declared the death of Tubilla after conducting a thorough medical examination on him. She said his wife, when told about the demise of her husband, decided to have him immediately buried in Semirara.
Meanwhile, Caluya Mayor Regil Kent Lim, in his official statement issued Monday, said the local leaders were saddened by the death of Tubilla.
“We wish to extend our sincerest condolences and deepest sympathy to the bereaved family” he said.
To date, Villalobos said the town of Caluya has no confirmed Covid-19 case. (PNA)
