BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A traveler from Manila caught with a fake reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result could face charges for falsification of public documents.
According to Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, provincial administrator of Negros Occidental, a copy of the blotter report of the travel has been forwarded to the Provincial Legal Office (PLO).
The traveler whose name was being withheld by authorities was a resident of Himamaylan City and arrived at the Bacolod-Silay Airport last week.
According to Diaz, the traveler violated the province’s coronavirus protocols and must therefore undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine and would be subjected to an RT-PCR test at his own expense.
It will now be up to the PLO what charges to file against the traveler.
The traveler could face charges related to Article 170 of the Revised Penal Code for falsification of public documents, as well as violating provisions of Republic Act 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act./PN
