Entire squad on quarantine in Bukidnon after captured NPA rebels show COVID-19 symptoms

The military found itself dealing with the threat of COVID-19 cases after a group of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels they fought with in San Fernando town, Bukidnon, on Wednesday, September 8, showed signs of coronavirus infection.

Brigadier General Ferdinand Barandon, commanding general of the 403rd Infantry Brigade, said on Thursday, September 9, that an entire squad of soldiers who figured in the close quarter fighting were subjected to rapid antigen tests.

Barandon said the entire Army platoon – about 25 soldiers – were also placed under observation.

The local COVID-19 interagency task force instructed military officials in Bukidnon, to bury the remains of four slain rebels after a rapid antigen test indicated that at least one of them was positive for the virus. A wounded rebel also tested positive in the non-confirmatory rapid test.

All nine others captured as a result of the encounter in San Fernando town showed COVID-19 symptoms, the military and police said.

Barandon said authorities immediately isolated the captured rebels in military custody, and would have them undergo RT-PCR tests at the San Fernando municipal health office.

‘Direct contacts’

He said authorities considered the captured rebels as “direct contacts” of those who tested positive in the rapid antigen tests.

“The rebels in our custody are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms like coughing and fever. Doctors have been sent to assist them,” Barandon said.

San Fernando town police chief Major Jesse James Lasdoce said the town’s health officials ordered the immediate burial of the four slain rebels after an antigen test result showed that one had the virus.

“The bodies are being buried as we speak. Our IATF ordered their immediate burial,” Lasdoce told Rappler on Thursday afternoon.

Lasdoce said health officials were concerned about a female rebel who was admitted to a hospital for gunshot wounds after a rapid antigen test result indicated she was COVID-19-positive.

In its September 9 briefing, the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 10 logged 393 new COVID-19 infections in Bukidnon, the highest in Northern Mindanao.

The DOH data also showed 28 deaths due to COVID-19 in Bukidnon province out of the 59 in Northern Mindanao.

Barandon said government troops clashed with a band of 20 communist rebels in a forest in the village of Mabuhay, San Fernando, on Wednesday.

He said soldiers killed four rebels and captured nine others, including three children with aged seven to 15 years, all with COVID-19 symptoms. He said they would release the young rebels to the custody of the San Fernando Social Welfare and Development Office.

Barandon said the soldiers seized 15 high-powered firearms, a motorcycle, and backpacks with medicine and canned food.

Major General Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said only 60% of the 5,000 soldiers under him have been vaccinated.

Rappler also learned that the 4th ID Division Training Unit in Bukidnon was also locked down following an outbreak of COVID-19 cases in August.

“Roxanne,” NPA spokesperson for Southern Bukidnon, said the rebels too were observing strict health protocols to prevent infections in their ranks.

“Our comrades who go down to the towns are being subjected to several days of isolation before they can rejoin their squads,” Roxanne said.

But she said the rugged life in rebel zones prevented the NPA from securing COVID-19 medicine supplies except for antibiotics and over-the-counter medicines.

“We are resorting to herbal medicine if we have a case of COVID-19 infection,” she said.