"Some officials are the first to break the rules."
They were supposed to be role models for their constituents. After three months of being in community quarantine, people are starting to get bored, itching to report back to work as government assistance in most cases won’t suffice, if cases it gets to the hands of the beneficiaries and not to the pockets of some government officials who see the COVID-19 pandemic as some sort of fund-raising for them, and looking forward to recover their lives they missed during the old normal.
But apparently, the officials are the first to break the law.
In the Visayas, former mayor of Taft, Eastern Samar, Diego Lim, his wife and their son, Municipal Councilor Marvin Lim, were also reported to have breached the province’s quarantine protocols, when arriving from Manila, they supposedly ignored police officers who were supposed to escort them to a quarantine facility.
According to Taft Police Chief Lt. Robin Caspe, Municipal Health Officer Dra. Avendaño intervened to allow the Lim family to stay at the quarantine facility at Brgy. Mantang Elementary School.
Agreeing to the request, the police then reportedly escorted the Lims to the school. However, as they were on their way to Brgy Mantang, the private car suddenly swerved and entered the gate of the Katrina Beach resort owned by the former mayor, and the gate was immediately closed, the police chief added.
“Naruyag kami nga didto hira ha Mantang mag quarantine kay asya man an siring ni Dra. Imelda Abenio (We agreed to allow Engr Lim’s family to use the Mantang quarantine facility upon the order of Dra. Abenio),” says Caspe.
“Niloko kami nira. (They duped us), ”the chief of police stressed.
The police chief said there was apparent connivance between Abenio and Lim as the former was already insisting on a home quarantine during the negotiation.
According to Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone, the acts of Lim, his wife and their son, and Abenio constitute clear violations of his “lawful executive order, the joint memorandum of the DILG and DOH, IATF guidelines, and Republic Act 11332.”
“Engr. (Mayor) Lim family’s display of arrogance was an insult to the policemen and checkpoint personnel, and defiance of lawful orders, and put in danger the health and safety of the people of Taft and Eastern Samar,” he avers, adding he is equally appalled by the action of Lim’s son Marvin, who, as a municipal councilor, should have showed decency and role model as an “honorable person by following lawful orders, and ensuring the safety of his own constituents.
Evardone bares the police are now readying charges against Abenio and the Lims, who also failed to produce Travel Authority issued by the JTF CV SHIELD (PNP).
The Eastern Samar governor says it’s rather unfair for the OFWs who have to undergo rigid process in going back to their provinces and yet people like Lim and his family could just break the law.
“This I can assure our people: Hindi natin palalampasin ito, It’s my sworn duty to protect the health and safety of our people!” Evardone vows.
Evardone of course has every reason to fume at such violations. Under his brilliant stewardship, Eastern Samar remains to be the only province in Eastern Visayas to remain COVID-free. At the very onset, he has instituted plans to fight possible contamination, and yet putting up quarantine and other health facilities should the need arises.
He just can’t let the arrogance of a former official and his family put all of his province’s effort to naught.
While the Lims have yet to report for any symptoms of the dreaded disease, that is not the concern. What matters most is that have violated the law and they should pay the price.
Which then reminds us of San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora who led a convoy of six vehicles in breaching the city’s coronavirus disease protocols when his entourage sped past a quarantine checkpoint and quickly proceeded to a country club.
While he had since issued an apology, the reasons he cited appear to be as weird as the Department of Health’s explanation on the rise of the cases of COVID-19 infections.
According to Zamora, he was asleep when his convoy approached the checkpoint. Further, he explained they had to go to Baguio City as his wife, who was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, was advised by her doctors to take a complete rest. And that they had decided his wife’s family’s old house in the City of Pines would be most suited for her.
I have been to Baguio countless times, with different people—family, colleagues, friends—and on all occasions, I just can’t remember anyone in all the groups I have been with, sleeping by the time we get to Baguio’s famous zigzag roads. Not because it’s fun or scary, but the endless turns would surely wake you up.
Or maybe the good mayor of San Juan is really a sound sleeper.
But what I find more ridiculous is his claim they were going to his wife’s family’s old house. If indeed that was their destination, then why make a stop at the Baguio Country Club? Surely it was not just to buy some raisin bread for merienda.
While I am offering some prayers for her wife’s recovery, Zamora and his entourage, just like Lim and his family, should be made answerable for violating the law.
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I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Mr. Rolly Reyes, columnist of the Manila Times for facilitating the request of colleague, Wendell Vigilia, to the Philippine Red Cross for bags of blood for her mother who was scheduled undergo surgey for her spine yesterday.
Thanks again Sir Rolly and to the PRC for their very quick response.