There are 31 COVID-19 positive inmates at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) isolation facility in Barangay Handumanan, Bacolod City, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Friday, June 11.
However, he stressed that not all of them are Bacolod residents, many of them come from BJMP facilities in various parts of Negros Occidental.
Jail Inspector Jude Ledesma, representative of the BJMP Negros Occidental, said that of the 31 cases, 9 are from Bacolod and 22 are from other towns and cities.
The Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF) invited officials of the BJMP to join the EOC huddle Friday because of the increasing COVID-19 transmission among PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) in various BJMP facilities.
The EOC has urged the BJMP to have the PDLs tested for COVID-19 and ensure that only those with negative RT-PCR results are brought back to detention facilities.
If a PDL tests positive for COVID-19, he must be extracted from the detention facility and brought to BJMP isolation facility for a 14-day quarantine, the EOC said.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the Bacolod IATF, said there must be strict enforcement of these protocols to prevent further transmission in detention facilities.
Meanwhile, Executive Assistant Ernie Pineda said they have filed blotter reports against 10 Bacolod COVID-19 positive residents who have refused to be extracted from their homes for quarantine.
Among the 10 were a family of four from a high-end subdivision.
The blotter reports will be forwarded to the City Legal Office for proper action, Pineda said.*