BY JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
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JOURNALIST and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) survivor Howie Severino was apprehended by Quezon City law enforcers and brought to a temporary holding facility after pulling off his face mask to have a drink Wednesday.
It turned out that the TV host was just one of the many who were held after the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety and several police stations of city launched the “One Time Big Time” operation against violators of minimum health standards set forth by Inter-Agency Task Force.
In a Facebook post, Severino said that he “had been biking this morning with two bambike buddies, Chris Linag and Jilson Tiu, in Quezon City for about an hour when [they] stopped at a bike shop on Mother Ignacia.”
According to Severino “they were all wearing masks” until they “bought drinks at the store next door and drank them after pulling down [their] masks below the mouth.”
“I had just finished my drink and returned the bottle to the store before I could pull my mask back up, when at least two vehicles of QC law enforcers arrived to tell me I was talking without my mask covering my mouth,” he said.
Severino said that he was then brought to Amoranto Sports Complex for a seminar on proper use of face masks. Upon arriving in the area, he said, he saw “hundreds of people rounded up” who were already there.
“I explained to a group of QC employees there that as a recovered patient who had already tested negative three times for the coronavirus and positive for antibodies since my discharge from the hospital, the risk of me infecting anyone is near zero. Nevertheless I still wear a mask,” he said.
Severino said that he offered himself to give a talk at the seminar but authorities there instead returned his bike and allowed him to go home.
Several hours before his post, another Facebook post has already been circulating and gone viral on social media regarding his apprehension
