DAVAO CITY – A city hall division chief here resigned over the fallout in the holding of a multimillion cockfighting event early last month, which has emerged as the epicenter of a Covid-19 outbreak that may have reached other regions.
The resignation came after more infected persons were traced to the holding of the cockfighting event at the New Matina Gallera.
The Department of Health here said eight persons have since died of Covid-19 and traced their contracting of the disease from their attendance in the cockfighting event.
Marissa M. Torentera, chief of the Davao City Business Permit and Licensing Division, tendered her resignation on Saturday and Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio accepted on Monday. “I talked to her on the consequence of her failure to stop the event”.
While Duterte said no law has been violated, starting from the issuance on February 4 of a City Council resolution approving of the holding of the six-cock derby and up to the issuance of the permit on March 3 after all the documents were submitted, “she (Torentera) failed to exercise her judgment”.
The event was held on March 7, 10, and 12 this year as a parallel event for the Araw ng Dabaw on March 16, but on March 8, Duterte cancelled all events to follow the admonition of the Department of Health to avoid all public gatherings.
“It is, however, noted that on March 3 and 8, the Division Chief of the Business Permit and Licensing Division could have stopped the conduct of the derby and further prevented the situation from escalating, but did not vigorously act on it. It was a judgment call that was never made. This person already tendered resignation effective April 4,” Duterte said.
Netizens though demanded accountability from city councilors too. A mobile text message sent to a city councilor for comment was left unanswered on Monday.
Dr. Cleo Fe Tabada, chief of the regional DOH’s epidemiology unit, said they have contacted 427 persons “who were at risk of exposure”.
Davao City has the highest number of contacted persons, at 139, followed by Davao del Sur, at 127. Forty-six persons have been traced to the other regions.
The number was likely to increase to as many as 1,510 persons as more secondary contacts volunteered information as the identity and whereabouts of those who were in the cockfighting arena. There were still persons to be traced from the other regions, Tabada said.
“The problem is that we are not even a third of the likely number of attendance there because of the multi-event,” she said, adding that the total number of those who attended may be as many as 10,000. Tabada said the interview and validation already indicated a clear secondary transmission.
The Davao Region has turned up 82 Covid-19 positive cases, of which 11 have died and 21 have recovered.
Dr. Leopoldo Vega, chief of hospital of the Southern Philippines Medical Center, said this number of persons was 6.5 percent of the total of 1,261 persons tested between March 31 and April 4.
He said none of the 160 frontline health personnel contracted the disease as of this time.
“If we continue to implement the interventions and the strict measures, we may likely bring down the number of transmission,” said Dr. Lenny Joy Rivera, assistant regional DOH director.
On Tuesday, at least four localities would shift to the enhanced community quarantine, two of them locking their borders even if the entire Davao Region has locked down its boundaries on March 19.
Davao de Oro province, formerly Compostela Valley, and Tagum City, the capital of Davao del Norte, announced they would lock down their borders on Tuesday.
Davao Occidental, with the least number of confirmed infection has locked down the province over the weekend, including Davao City, which started its ECQ on Saturday night.
Curfew here has been expanded, from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am, while Davao del Sur has been on a 24-hour curfew last week.
Mayor Duterte said she would not lock down the city borders saying that the ECQ alone has made it highly restrictive for movement of people. She said vital health facilities located only here in the city should not be restricted for access by residents from the other provinces and regions.
Meanwhile, the Regional Anti-Cyber Crime Unit 11 and the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Cyber Response Team arrested on Sunday one Vicente Jerona Canonera allegedly “for spreading Covid-19 related fake news” in his residence in Barangay Cabantian in Buhangin.
“Cañonera posted in Facebook Pages named Deca Homeowners and Neighborhood Association, Inc and Barangay Cabantian of Davao Concern Citizen, a list of names who are allegedly positive of Covid 19 for contact tracing,” the police said.
“This operation should serve as a warning to everyone. Keep in mind that the PNP can track down those who make posts of unverified information that might endanger the privacy of individual and caused panic to the public. It is during this time that all should be responsible in using their social media accounts,” said Police Brigadier Gen. Filmore Escobal, chief of the regional police here.