BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN

San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza has tested again positive for COVID-19.
This was confirmed yesterday by Fr. Marjun Almario, the diocese’s chancellor, in a statement he issued which was published in the website of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines.
But Almario said the 62-year-old bishop is asymptomatic and under quarantine.
“We encourage those persons that he may have interacted with these past few days to observe home quarantine and cooperate with the authorities for proper health protocols,” Almario said.
Bishop Alminaza also contracted the virus in June, where he was hospitalized for six days and underwent a 14-day quarantine.
Almario asked the faithful to pray for Bishop’s Alminaza’s fast healing, as well as for other COVID-19 patients.
“Let us continue as well to pray for those in the frontlines who are constantly taking risks to care for us,” the priest said.
The CBCP said that Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of Bangued Diocese and Cardinal Jose Advincula were also tested positive for COVID-19.
But Bishop Jaucian has already fully recovered on September 16 after two weeks in quarantine, according to CBCP.
In Manila, prayers poured in for Cardinal Jose Advincula’s immediate recovery after he tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
In a statement on September 17, Fr. Reginald Malicdem, the archdiocese’s chancellor, said that aside from a “slight fever,” the cardinal is not experiencing any other symptoms.*