Tanods, City Hall workers tussle over burial of suspected COVID fatality

By Felipe V. Celino 

 

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – A suspected COVID-19 patient died Sunday afternoon and was immediately buried in a cemetery at Brgy. Banica here.

The burial of the deceased patient, however, caused a verbal tussle between officials of Barangay Banica here and members of the Roxas City Emergency Response Team (RCERT) under the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) at Banica Public Cemetery.

This after some of the residents of Banica got worried because the burial of the deceased from Brgy. Dayao here was done about 8 pm Sunday.

The village police proceeded to the area where the deceased was buried and saw the RCERT personnel and members of the families.

The barangay tanods asked the RCERT personnel for some documents and identification cards to prove that they were members of the CDRRMO.

The RCERT personnel told the tanods that they have permission to bury the deceased, but the tanods wondered why they had to do it in the evening and some of them were not wearing protective gears.

The village officials said that it was not the first time that uncoordinated burials happened in the area.

It was learned that the swab test result of the deceased has yet to be released.