BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN AND SHIELA G. GELERA
Four of the seven Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs), who refused to be swabbed for Covid-19 upon entry at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental Tuesday, were accounted for, provincial police spokesman, Maj. Edison Garcia, said last night.
Garcia said they were immediately subjected to swab testing and placed in a quarantine facility in Bacolod City.
He added that members of the contact tracing team of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office are still searching for the three other APORs, who were reported last night to have already been placed under quarantine. The police is validating the report, he said.
Negros Occidental has an existing health protocol that requires all those who enter the province to undergo Covid-19 test.
The NOCPPO had been tasked earlier by the provincial government of Negros Occidental to locate and arrest the seven APORs who refused to be swabbed for the virus, as they reportedly had a letter from a Bacolod councilor allowing their entry, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
The seven APORs, as reported by Aksyon Radyo, claimed upon arrival at the Bacolod-Silay Airport on Sept. 15 that they are exempted from swab testing.
NOCPPO and the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade personnel are augmenting the Covid-19 contact tracing team members of the Bacolod City Police Office in the fight against the spread of the virus.
Sixteen police personnel from NOCPPO arrived at the BCPO headquarters at Magsaysay Avenue in Bacolod City yesterday, Col. Henry Biñas, BCPO director, said, adding that some of them were nurses and health workers before they enter the police service.
The deployment was ordered by P/Brig. Gen. Rene Pamuspusan, PRO-6 director. Bacolod has 129 police personnel assigned as contact tracers, excluding the new augmentation. The contact tracing teams are headed by the Bacolod City Health Office.
Some of the police officers will be deployed in hospitals to assist in the triage areas, where patients are screened prior to treatment, Biñas said.*
