DAVAO CITY – A police officer from the Davao region is facing dismissal from the service after presenting a falsified reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result at the Davao International Airport last Dec. 10.
Information released by the Davao City Information Office yesterday said Police Lt. Joy Line Cumbao, a forensic officer assigned at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory-Davao, has been slapped with administrative cases of grave misconduct and dishonesty for using a fake RT-PCR result upon her arrival at the airport.
It added that PNP Crime Laboratory-Davao director Police Brig. Gen. Steve Ludan confirmed that Cumbao had not undergone the virus test before her flight to Davao and that her RT-PCR test result had been forged.
City Tourism Office head Gene Rose Tecson, Airport Health Monitoring Team head, said that Cumbao explained that her virus test result could not be verified at that time as the server in Camp Crame in Quezon City, where she took the test, might have been down.
But no record of such a test was found when the local government verified it with Camp Crame, she added.
“She tried to get out from the situation, saying that the server in Camp Crame where she allegedly got tested was down. Pinapa-access ko sa kanya (We told her to access it). No medical tests were found. When we checked with Crame, no results were found,” Tecson said.
Tecson warned travelers to get tested by reputable COVID-19 testing laboratories after another passenger from Manila was apprehended at DIA for presenting a falsified virus test result with a QR code, which opened to a different website.
“Please be vigilant. Make sure that the laboratories you get tested from are reputable laboratories that issue legitimate results because we have our ways to verify the authenticity of the documents here at the airport,” Tecson said.
She said 12 travelers have been apprehended by airport authorities since the local government made mandatory a negative RT-PCR test results for air travelers last July this year. (Antonio L. Colina IV)
