Mayor of Makilala, wife test positive for COVID-19
Breaking News • 20:45 PM Thu May 20, 2021
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Photos from Mayor Armando Quibod's FB page
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Another town mayor in North Cotabato, his wife and two workers of the municipal government have tested positive of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Manuel Lalaguna, municipal administrator of Makilala, said Mayor Armando Quibod and his wife who regularly accompany the mayor in his functions as chief executive, along with two town employees are stable and currently isolated in a COVID-19 isolation facility.
He is the second North Cotabato town mayor who tested positive of the virus. On Wednesday, Mayor Jesus Sacdalan of Alamada admitted he contracted the virus.
It was in Makilala town where 348 doses of Coronavac, worth about P500,000, were damaged after it was kept in a freezer that has no electricity for more than two days.
Lalaguna said Mayor Quibod presided over a municipal peace and order council meeting where one of the participants was later tested positive of the virus.
“All personnel working at the mayor’s office, me included, are on quarantine,” Lalaguna said in a radio interview here.
He did not name the employee with whom the mayor believed to have contracted the virus but said the worker underwent swab test on May 11, a day after the POC meeting. The result came out on May 15 showing the worker had the virus.
Lalaguna said on May 16, Mayor Quibod had shown symptoms of the virus like dry cough and sore throat, prompting him and his wife to undergo swab test.
The results came out Wednesday.
All workers at the town hall who had close contact with the mayor in the last seven days, including police and military, are now isolated.
With Mayor Quibod isolate, Vice Mayor Ryan Tabay is the acting mayor.
To ensure government services continue, Lalaguna said a skeletal workforce was in place in the municipal hall.