Eight Lapu councilors test negative for COVID-19

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—All eight councilors of Lapu-Lapu City who attended a regular session in a restaurant in Barangay Ibo tested negative for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Lapu-Lapu Councilor Rico Amores confirmed this on Wednesday, September 1, ,2021, saying the eight, including him, were made to undergo RT-PCR testing in a private diagnostic center on Tuesday, August 31.

“Nagpa-(RT)PCR mi tanan gahapon and ang resulta, negative ming tanan,” Amores said.

(We were tested by RT-PCR yesterday and the results said we were all negative [for COVID-19].)

Vice-mayor Celedonio “Celsi” Sitoy issued a notice of meeting and ordered the eight councilors to undergo RT-PCR testing after a media practitioner who attended the session tested positive for the virus.

Aside from Amores, councilors who attended the session last week were Flaviano “Bobit” Hiyas, Epoy Paquibot, Michael Dignos, Rex Mangubat, Rudy Potot, Alexander Gestopa, and ABC President Eduardo Cuizon.

With this development, Amores said that they will be attending physically their regular session on Thursday, September 2.

This is despite the order of Sitoy to just hold their regular session via Zoom.

“Ang basis ato niya nga mag-online hearing, is to the effect nga i-swab mi karon unya while waiting sa result mag-online sa ug hearing. Pero wala naman siya, kay mahug naman siya ug moot and academic ang iyang basis kay naa man mi result,” he added.

(His basis for the online hearing is the effect that we were waiting for the results of the swab tests. But the basis is moot and academic since we have [negative] results.)

Amores also believes that the council should also first pass a resolution for the conduct of an online/virtual session before they can adopt it.

But Sitoy, for his part, said that the council doesn’t need to pass a resolution since the country is facing a health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sitoy is firm in his decision to conduct the regular session via Zoom.

“Pandemya man ta, ang katong among internal rules gihimo to wala pamay pandemya. Nya mao manay gipanghimo gani didto sa Congress ug sa Senate nga virtual kanang mga meeting kay tungod sa pandemya,” Sitoy said.

(We’re still in a pandemic so the internal rules we came up with was made when there was still no pandemic. And that’s what the Congress and Senate is doing, that the meetings be held virtually because of the pandemic.)

/bmjo