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Iloilo City locks down zoning office; employees on swab test

By Perla Lena

June 18, 2020, 7:00 pm

<p><strong>LOCKDOWN.</strong> The Zoning Office of the Iloilo City Hall is placed on strict quarantine on Thursday (June 18, 2020). Five employees who went to a private resort in Anini-y, Antique were also subjected to a swab test.<em> (PNA photo by Perla Lena)</em></p>

LOCKDOWN. The Zoning Office of the Iloilo City Hall is placed on strict quarantine on Thursday (June 18, 2020). Five employees who went to a private resort in Anini-y, Antique were also subjected to a swab test. (PNA photo by Perla Lena)

ILOILO CITY – The Zoning Office of the Iloilo City hall has been placed on strict quarantine while its five employees were subjected to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) swab test on Thursday.

Mayor Jerry Treñas made the order after receiving information that employees of the office went to a resort in Anini-y, Antique reportedly with the regional director for Western Visayas of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and his group.

A member of the BFP group was allegedly exposed to their co-employee later found positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

However, the result of the preliminary investigation by city officials showed that the employees from the City Planning and Development Office/Office of the City Zoning Administrator (OCZA) went to the resort on June 13 and 14 upon the invitation of a certain Miriam Penoscas.

“The following was gathered from the other personnel of OCZA who had information about the reported trip of their co-employees as relayed to them by the direct participants who at that time of this investigation were out of the office and were being tested at the Jubilee Hall, Mabini Street,” said Ruben Torres, City Zoning chief.

The BFP personnel, upon the invitation of Penoscas, were reported to have visited the resort on June 6 to 7, the investigation showed.

The regional director of the BFP in Western Visayas was relieved from his post on Wednesday as ordered by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

In a press release, Año has ordered the relief of Fire Senior Supt. Roderick Aguto due to the “reported breach of quarantine protocol of a fire personnel” who later turned out positive of Covid-19.

A 24-year-old BFP personnel, who tested positive for the virus, arrived at Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City from Cebu City last June 5. She underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) upon her arrival, the result of which was released last June 14.

Aguto will be replaced by Fire Senior Supt. Jerry Candido, the director for logistics of the BFP national headquarters, as officer-in-charge. (PNA)

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