BJMP: new jail guards will be tested for COVID-19
Published Apr 18, 2020 12:00 am
By Chito Chavez
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) on Saturday, April 18, said that the new jail guards who replaced their nine novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) positive colleagues at the Quezon City Jail will also be tested for the virus.
(Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN)
BJMP spokesperson Chief Inspector Xavier Solda said there was a “changing of the guards’’ at the QCJ while the infected personnel are under strict home quarantine. On orders of BJMP Jail Director Allan iral, Solda said these measures are being undertaken in support of President Duterte’s anti-COVID-19 efforts.
For other jail facilities, Solda said there were strict orders for them to maintain their hygienic surroundings of the jails to lessen the chance of the PDL and the personnel of being infected with the virus.
As the nine COVID-19 PDLs were placed in isolation at the facility in Payatas, Quezon City, Solda explained that the BJMP’s priority is the inmates infected with the virus. Solda assured that the PDLs are cared for as they are required to wear face masks and have their cells regularly disinfected for their protection.
Since the PDLs have access to news reports, Solda noted that it was not very difficult for BJMP personnel to convince them that some precautionary measures have to be enforced to protect them from the COVID-19 virus no matter how inconvenient they may seem. “They realize the danger posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why they have been very cooperative with the measures we are trying to undertake,’’ Solda said.
Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) urged local government units to include inmates who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 in their targeted mass testing programs. DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya requested the local chief executives to include the concerned PDLs in their mass testing if the jail wardens report that there are PUIs in their facilities.
(Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN)
BJMP spokesperson Chief Inspector Xavier Solda said there was a “changing of the guards’’ at the QCJ while the infected personnel are under strict home quarantine. On orders of BJMP Jail Director Allan iral, Solda said these measures are being undertaken in support of President Duterte’s anti-COVID-19 efforts.
For other jail facilities, Solda said there were strict orders for them to maintain their hygienic surroundings of the jails to lessen the chance of the PDL and the personnel of being infected with the virus.
As the nine COVID-19 PDLs were placed in isolation at the facility in Payatas, Quezon City, Solda explained that the BJMP’s priority is the inmates infected with the virus. Solda assured that the PDLs are cared for as they are required to wear face masks and have their cells regularly disinfected for their protection.
Since the PDLs have access to news reports, Solda noted that it was not very difficult for BJMP personnel to convince them that some precautionary measures have to be enforced to protect them from the COVID-19 virus no matter how inconvenient they may seem. “They realize the danger posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why they have been very cooperative with the measures we are trying to undertake,’’ Solda said.
Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) urged local government units to include inmates who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 in their targeted mass testing programs. DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya requested the local chief executives to include the concerned PDLs in their mass testing if the jail wardens report that there are PUIs in their facilities.