ROXAS City – The coronavirus-positive youth offender who was apprehended after escaping from a quarantine facility on May 3 was turned over to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Dumalag, Capiz on May 7.
The transfer was effected after he attempted to escape once again from the Roxas City Crisis Center where he was supposed to be quarantined.
The Roxas City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) decided and carried out the transfer with the help of the Roxas City police and City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO).
An escape would endanger the public, they explained.
The Dumalag BJMP prison facility is well-guarded.
The teenager was cornered by the city government’s Task Force on COVID-19 with the help of the Roxas City police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on San Roque Extension here on May 6.
He escaped from the Hortus Botanicus quarantine facility on May 3 after he was swabbed.
According to Ronald Amigo, in-charge of the Roxas City COVID-19 Command Center, the youth offender was among the close contacts of two COVID-19-positive children at the Roxas City Crisis Center, thus they were scheduled for a swab test on the morning of May 3.
Amigo said that after the lad was swabbed, he asked permission to use the comfort room. However, he suddenly ran away.
On the evening of May 3, the test results came out. The lad was among the 12 individuals – which included children, house parents and city government employees plus a security guard – from the crisis center who turned out positive for coronavirus disease 2019.
According to the task force and the CDRRMO, the lad was with a friend identified only as “Jan-Jan” when spotted at San Roque Extension but the friend – a minor – managed to run away.
The task force turned the COVID-19-positive teenager to the crisis center in Barangay Inzo here then launched a manhunt of the lad’s friend who ran away.
Amigo said they city government temporarily transformed the crisis center into an isolation facility for those who tested positive while those who tested negative for COVID-19 were pulled out from the facility.
Where did the lad spend the four days he was on the run?
The task force and CDRRMO wanted to know so it could conduct a thorough contact tracing and testing to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
The task force and the CDRRMO appealed to whoever came in close contact with the COVID-19-positive teenager to coordinate with them to get the proper medical intervention./PN
