DOJ chief Guevarra tests negative for Covid-19

FILE: SENATE HEARING. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said he has tested negative based on swab testing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Awa ng Diyos, negative sa swab test (Thank God, I tested negative in swab test),” Guevarra told reporters.

Guevarra is among the eight Cabinet officials who have so far confirmed their attendance to President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nationa Address (SONA), aside from Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, and Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

Earlier, Roque said 15 Cabinet members will be allowed to be physically present at the Batasang Pambansa.

Other Cabinet members will have to attend the Zoom viewing rooms organized by the Presidential Communications Operations Office to mitigate the risk of contracting the diseases.

The DOJ, being an original member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), earlier said it strives to uphold the protection of human rights whenever stringent measures are being considered in response to the health crisis.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), an attached agency of the DOJ, has been focusing on offenses that are connected to the pandemic such as hoarding, overpricing, profiteering, irregularities in the distribution of the government’s cash aid, and violation of quarantine protocols.

Other agencies under the DOJ have adopted innovative solutions such as allowing online filings before the prosecution services as well as online inquest services.