CEBU CITY, Philippines — With no space yet to move and isolate 7 COVID-19 positive detainees inside the Pardo Police Station detention cell, the station’s police chief has no choice but to let them continue to stay in the cell together with 17 other detainees, who are not infected with the virus.
“As of now, wala pa nato sila maseparate kay nangita pata og mabutangan nila, kay among police station, usa raman gud na among selda. So initially, gibutangan lang nato sila og face shields ug face masks,” said Police Major Angelo Acupinpin, Pardo Police Station chief, who was referring to the 17 other detainees, who are COVID-free, inside the cell.
(As of now, we had not separated them from the other detainees inside the cell because we are still looking for a space to move them with our police station only having one detention cell. So initially, we just gave them and required them to wear face masks and shields.)
However, he said that they were coordinating with the barangay to help them find a space where the 7 infected detainees could be isolated.
Aside from that, Acupinpin described the 7 infected detainees as those facing illegal drug charges (5 persons), rape case, and an illegal gambling case.
He also said they were also just waiting for the court to issue a commitment order against the 7 detainees so that they could be moved.
Once the court issues this order, they will be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) COVID facility.
Acupinpin also assured that they were working on the documents needed and coordinating with the court to fast track the issuance of the commitment order.
The 24 detainees of the Pardo Police Station took their swab tests on February 19. The results were released today with seven of them being positive for the virus.
Acupinpin also said that it would be up to the city’s Emergency Operation Center or EOC to decide if the police station would be locked down because of the COVID-19 cases there or not.
As for the police station’s policemen, he said he would leave that to the EOC’s contact tracers on whether to have them isolated or not, but he assured the public that none of his policemen had a direct contact with the seven infected detainees./dbs
Read: Cebu City may face stricter quarantine with COVID mutations