{"id":250122,"date":"2020-03-26T23:20:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T03:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=250122"},"modified":"2020-03-26T23:20:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T03:20:15","slug":"2nd-house-member-tests-positive-for-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/26\/2nd-house-member-tests-positive-for-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd House member tests positive for Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Villarica is the second member of the House of Representatives to contract the virus after ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap tested positive earlier Wednesday. (File Photo<\/a>: House of Representatives of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Bulacan Rep. Henry Villarica tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales confirmed on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Villarica is the second member of the House of Representatives to contract the virus after ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap tested positive earlier Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Montales noted that Villarica last reported for work at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on March 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn March 8, he attended an event hosted by Baliuag Mayor Ferdie Estrella, who was reported earlier to have tested positive,\u201d Montales said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Villarica was admitted to the hospital on March 12 for pneumonia. His condition is stable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Montales said members of Villarica\u2019s staff have not exhibited any symptoms of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Yap became the first House member infected with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Yap attended a meeting at Malaca\u00f1an Palace on March 21 and the Congress\u2019 special session for Covid-19 on March 23 before he learned that he tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The Presidential Security Group said Yap could face charges for his alleged misdeclaration on his health condition when he attended the recent meeting at Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said public officials must follow the strict enforcement of the quarantine protocols set by the national government to contain the spread of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Panelo said all government workers, especially those considered patients under investigation (PUIs) or persons under monitoring (PUMs), are not exempted from the implementation of the quarantine protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protocols set by the government for persons under investigation or monitoring must be strictly and absolutely observed by all people falling under the said categories, regardless of their socio-political status,\u201d Panelo said in a press statement.<\/p>\n

Panelo\u2019s statement came after Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, who tested positive for Covid-19, earned the public\u2019s ire for supposed breach of infection and containment protocols.<\/p>\n

Strict home quarantine must be observed by all PUIs and PUMs.<\/p>\n

Makati Medical Center (MMC) on Wednesday slammed Pimentel for visiting the hospital\u2019s premises to accompany his pregnant wife, Kathryna, despite being under strict home quarantine for suspected Covid-19 infection.<\/p>\n

Pimentel, in a statement on Wednesday, said he only knew that he tested positive for Covid-19 when he was at MMC with his wife on March 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Bulacan Rep. Henry Villarica tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales confirmed on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":228728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-filane-mikee-cervantes","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250125,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250122\/revisions\/250125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}