By Jennifer P. Rendon
Another police station in Iloilo province was placed on “quarantine” effective January 26, 2021.
Colonel Gilbert Gorero, Iloilo Police Chief, said personnel of Lemery Police Station were placed on quarantine after their Chief of Police, Captain Edwin Belarmino, tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Belarmino went home to Cauayan, Negros Occidental on January 24.
As a precautionary measure, he underwent Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test before joining his family.
Two days later, the result indicated that he contracted the virus.
“That’s why, all other personnel of Lemery Police Station headed by Lieutenant Francis Batalleones were on mandatory quarantine,” Gorero said.
Gorero said the Lemery police would still perform administrative functions while waiting for their swab test results.
In the meantime, the IPPO detailed to Lemery two investigators from Sara and San Joaquin police stations.
He also deployed members of the 2nd Iloilo Provincial Mobile Force Company to take over the station’s other operational functions,
On January 22, IPPO ordered personnel of San Joaquin Police Station to go on quarantine after four detainees and one cop tested positive for COVID-19.
Gorero said they heeded to the recommendation of the San Joaquin local government in a bid to avoid further spread of the virus.
It was theorized that virus originated from a detainee who was arrested over a stabbing incident.
The suspect, a resident of Barangay Cataan, San Joaquin, was arrested January 15.
Lieutenant Dionisio Estacio, San Joaquin police chief, said the suspect underwent RT-PCR testing on January 19 after his father also contracted the virus.
When the detainee’s result came out positive, the three arresting policemen and other detainees also underwent RT-PCR testing on Thursday last week.
Three of the five detainees and one police officer yielded positive results on Friday morning.
Gorero said the remaining personnel of San Joaquin Police Station underwent swab test on January 23.
Their results are yet to be released as of this writing.
