By AARON RECUENCO
All the policemen who made close contact with Philippine National Police chief Police Gen. Debold Sinas during his command visit in Calapan City tested negative for COVID-19.
They include the regional director of the Police Regional Office 4-B, Police Brig. Gen. Pascual Muñoz, and other ranking police officers in the region who attended a command conference with Sinas on March 11.
Police Lt. Col. Imelda Tolentino, PRO 4-B spokesperson, said the test for Muñoz and other regional police officers were conducted on the sixth day after their exposure to Sinas, explaining that coronavirus is best detected at least four days after the close contact.
“The results of the RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) test conducted have been released and all are negative. This reflects the effective implementation of health protocols by the Philippine National during the Chief PNP Command Visit,” said Tolentino.
Sinas is currently under isolation in one of the PNP facilities. His visit to Calapan City was widely criticized after he was accused of violating health safety protocols by local officials. Even senators slammed Sinas for what they called a repeated violation of the health safety protocol.
But Muñoz and other police officers stressed that Sinas underwent the health safety protocols being implemented by the Local Government Unit of Calapan City.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, PNP officer-in-charge, has reiterated the importance of observing health safety protocols that include wearing of face masks and face shields.
Eleazar, who also made close contact with Sinas a day before the PNP chief went to Calapan City, also tested negative for coronavirus, attributing it to wearing of both the face mask and face shield.