MANILA – Twenty-seven more personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Region 6 have been relieved from their posts by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Like their sacked regional director Fire Senior Superintendent Roderick Aguto, they would be investigated, too, for last week’s trip to Boracay Island with a colleague who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“A total of 28 personnel were relieved from their positions. Of course, they are under quarantine and would undergo reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests,” said Secretary Eduardo Año.
He ordered the creation of a team from the BFP national headquarters to conduct the probe.
“The investigation would determine the extent of each personnel’s participation or accountability…the command responsibility of senior officers…There was a report that they’ve been drinking there…or if they violated physical distancing while having their gathering,” said Año.
The Interior secretary also said 24 staff of the hotel where the BFP-6 personnel stayed and nine boatmen who ferried the group would also be subjected to quarantine.
In a related development, the Department of Tourism (DOT) revoked the accreditation of the hotel that housed the BFP-6 personnel.
Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the hotel had no Certificate of Authority to Operate yet when the BFP-6 personnel stayed in it from June 12 to 14.
“The concerned hotel at that time had no authority to operate, which is issued by the agency after ensuring that an accommodation facility has set health and safety protocols in place,” she said.
Romulo-Puyat said the COVID-19 positive BFP-6 employee and her colleagues checked in on June 12 and “pretended” to be part of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force delegation when the latter convened on the island from June 11 to 12.
“The group claimed they were attending a conference of the task force but there was no conference already that time. The task force already left Boracay,” she said.
| Boracay was reopened to tourists from around Western Visayas on June 16 upon the recommendation of the Aklan provincial government and the task force’s approval./PN |
