2 COVID-19 frontliners perish in Capiz road crash

by Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Philippine Daily Inquirer, 11 Sep 2020

ILOILO CITY – Capicenos are paying tribute to two coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frontliners who died in a vehicular accident in the municipality of Ivisan while on their way to fetch returning overseas Filipino workers (ROFs).

The Capiz Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) and families of Darius Yap and Ernie Fulgencio are also calling for a transparent and credible investigation on the accident that also involved the police of Dumalag town in Capiz.

Yap, who was driving an ambulance and Fulgencio, also a frontliner, died after the ambulance collided with a sport utility vehicle reportedly driven by Dumalag police chief Capt. Alcer Monsera. Monday evening in Barangay Ondoy in Ivisan.

Four persons were injured including Monsera, John Rey Castillon, who was with the team of Yap and Fulgencio, and two other passengers of the sport utility vehicle.

The ambulance was on its way to Roxas City to fetch ROFs who had arrived in the province.

Judy Grace Pelaez, executive officer of the Capiz PDRRMO, said they are calling for justice for the “fallen heroes.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has also infected more health workers in Western Visayas.

The Dr. Rafael S Tumbukon Memorial Hospital, the provincial hospital of Aklan, announced on September 9 that six of its laboratory personnel tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which causes the COVID-19 disease.

The hospital management said that the infected personnel were placed under quarantine and that contact tracing is ongoing.

The hospital has limited new admissions but continues to accept emergency cases and offer limited outpatient services.

As of September 9, 390 medical workers in the region have been infected including 313 active cases, according to Dr. Jane Juanico, head of the Infectious Disease Section of the Department of Health in Western Visayas.

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