FAKE COVID TEST RESULT: ‘Fake paper, real people’

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

 

The signatories in the alleged fake COVID-19 test result bearing the letterhead and logo of the Western Visayas Medical Center-Sub National Laboratory are real people.

But Dr. Stephanie Abello, WVMC-SNL head, said Arriane Sibal, Abigail Joy Pastolero, Andres Miranda, and Pierre Layson work for another laboratory in Pampanga, not in Region 6.

The fake test result was discovered after a staff of the Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF)-Dingle campus went to WVMC to validate the document.

The alleged fake document bore the logos of WVMC and Department of Health but lacked additional security features like the bar code which is unique to the laboratory.

This development suggests that the forgery might not be an isolated case.

Dr. Abello told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that they will seek the help of authorities to determine if the alleged forgery is an isolated case or the handiwork of a syndicate.

Abello said the signatories in legitimate COVID test results are WVMC personnel who processed the swab specimens.

Except for the illegitimate signatories, the fake RT-PCR results are almost identical with the authentic RT-PCR results being issued by WVMC as it also contained logos and contact details of WVMC.

Abello suspects that business may have motivated unscrupulous individuals to fake COVID-19 tests.

“Isa sa mga rason kun ngaa may nakagguwa nga peke nga RT-PCR test bangod ginanegosyahan na nila,” she said.

Abello added that employees who were pressured to secure a negative RT-PCR result by their employers may have fallen into the trap and resorted to faking their RT-PCR results.

One possibility could be personalities who go around in the guise of extracting swab specimen for RT-PCR testing, especially on persons who need negative COVID-19 test results in their work.

Persons who have exceeded the 14-day quarantine period might have resorted to securing spurious test results so they can go home.