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MANILA – The Perlas Spikers confirmed on Monday night that some of their players have contracted the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The team, however, clarified some reports from Baguio-based journalists that surfaced over the weekend.
"The team wants to clarify several news reports, particularly from the city's regional news outfits, on the training camp, where seven players (not eight players as earlier reported) and a coach were tested positive for Covid-19," Perlas said in a statement.
The club has been holding a training camp since May 30 in Baguio as part of its preparations for the upcoming Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season, which is slated to start on July 17 in Laoag.
"The Perlas Spikers, the first standalone volleyball club in the Philippines, has been fortunate enough to have been welcomed by the local government unit (LGU) of Baguio City into the Summer Capital of the Philippines for the last leg of our preparations for the forthcoming PVL Open Conference," the club said.
However, no less than Baguio mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Friday that some players have indeed tested positive for Covid-19, which even led to some confusion as some members of the roster have been with the national team.
The Philippine Sports Commission, through chief of staff and national training director Marc Velasco, denied on Sunday that the Philippine women's team has put up a training camp in Baguio.
The Philippine National Volleyball Federation confirmed Velasco's statement earlier Monday.
No one's in Teacher's Camp
On the other hand, Perlas skipper Jem Ferrer belied rumors that the team is staying in Teacher's Camp.
"In light of all the misinformation circulating in social media and the news about my team’s situation here in Baguio I would like to clarify the following: We are not billeted in Teacher’s Camp. The only places that we go to apart from our accommodation are our court training venue and our gym training," Ferrer said.
She even said there is no way that her teammates would go back and forth from Teacher's Camp to another place in Baguio.
"And with regard to the news that we snuck out of Teacher’s Camp that is 1,000 percent not true because number 1, we are not staying there, and number 2, in our accommodation there is a CCTV that monitors us 24/7 and that can prove that we do not go out of our gates except for court training and gym training as mentioned earlier," she added.
Ferrer also said those who are negative of Covid-19 are safe, while the positive cases, whose names are not disclosed, are currently recovering in quarantine facilities.
"We plan to continue following the protocols set by the RIATF (Regional Inter-Agency Task Force), the LGU, and GAB (Games and Amusements Board) until our last day here in Baguio,” she said. (PNA)
