BY NEL B. ANDRADE
ANTIPOLO CITY – Two provincial security personnel selling fake COVID-19 test results were arrested by police in an entrapment operation over the weekend here, the office of Rizal Governor Rebecca Ynares bared Sunday.
Governor Ynares learned that two members of the Provincial Security Department (PSD) at the capitol building – Arnel Ignacio, a resident of Muzon, Taytay and Edgardo Juanillo of Pinugay, Baras – were issuing fake test results in exchange for a fee, prompting her to seek police help for the immediate arrest of the suspects.
It was learned that the two suspects along with three other cohorts reportedly issued test results for P1,700 and above to their victims.
A total of P3,400 marked money, several fake test results, and a motorcycle were confiscated from the two arrested suspects.
The duo were sacked from their post, and charges of falsification of documents and robbery-extortion will be filed in court against them. Their three cohorts remain under investigation, according to the office of Governor Ynares.
The identity of the three alleged cohorts, who are all assigned at the gate of the capitol compound, were not disclosed by the capitol pending the result of an ongoing investigation.
In its message on its Facebook page, the provincial government said rapid and swab tests are free, but online booking appointment is encouraged to prevent long lines in the Mega Testing Center located at the back of the provincial capitol. The testing center is open from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Online Booking COVID-19 Test Center links are https://www.facebook.com/RizalFreeCOVIDTest/, https://www.facebook.com/AntipoloFreeCOVIDTest/.
As of October 2, Rizal province has recorded a drop of COVID-19 active cases from 975 cases in October 1 to 917 cases including 78 new ones. (Nel Andrade)
