Search for suspected COVID-19 carrier Tablighs gaining headway
HEALTH • 10:30 AM Fri Mar 20, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
Frontliners guarding an anti-COVID-19 checkpoint in Maguindanao province.
COTABATO CITY --- Provincial officials in Basilan urged authorities Friday to coordinate with the Markaz in the provinces to hasten the search for Tablig missionaries suspected of having contracted the coronavirus infection.
The Markaz is like an umbrella entity of the Tabligh religious bloc in the provinces that has lists of members and keeps track of their travels in the regions and abroad either to preach, or participate in congregational gatherings.
The provincial disaster risk reduction and management council in Basilan, chaired by Gov. Jim Salliman, has identified with the help of local executives and the Markaz two constituents who participated in a gathering in Malaysia early this month.
One of the 215 Tablighs from the Philippines who traveled to Malaysia died of coronavirus infection last week at the Amai Pakpak Hospital in Marawi City while another is confined at the Cotabato Regional Medical Hospital here for the same disease.
The Tabligh group is comprised of missionaries roving in remote barangays to preach Islam, clad in typical Pakistani men’s attire.
The provincial administrator of Basilan, Manny Muarip, himself a Tabligh, said Friday there is a possibility that since many Tablighs are not active in social media, they may not have learned of the government’s effort to locate them.
Salliman, now in his second term as Basilan governor, has instructed his subordinate-local executives in the 11 towns and two cities in the island province to also monitor the health of vacationing constituents working abroad.
The police in Lanao del Sur, where there is a big number of Tablighs who traveled to Malaysia, have established quarantine roadblocks in the towns of Saguiaran, in Amai Manabilang, in Picong and in Kapatagan, to screen motorists and commuters coming from Iligan City, Bukidnon, from Zamboanga del Sur, and Maguindanao, respectively.
“We have established these checkpoints days before our provincial governor placed the province under enhanced community quarantine. Now the routes are closed,” Col. Madzgani Mukaram, director of the provincial police, said Friday.
Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. placed on March 19 the entire Lanao del Sur and its capital, Marawi City, under enhanced community quarantine, closing its borders with neighboring provinces.
Mukaram said Adiong, who is chairman of the provincial Anti-Covid 19 Task Force, and the provincial police are working together in trying to locate the Tablighs who traveled to Malaysia.
“The efforts of the provincial government are gaining headway,” Mukaram said Friday without elaborating.
Sources from the Lanao del Sur provincial disaster risk reduction management council told reporters no fewer than 16 Maranaw Tablighs joined the religious gathering in Malaysia.
One of them, a professor, died in a hospital from COVID infection.
The sources said except for five Maranaw Tablighs, a number of those who went to Malaysia have been located, now under quarantine supervised by medical practitioners.
Adiong enlisted the help of religious leaders and municipal officials in locating them, according to the sources.
Senior Army and police officials in Sulu have also confirmed that three Tablighs in the island province who went to Malaysia have also been identified.
The provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Sulu are inside the core territory of the Bangsamoro region that also covers Maguindanao and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.