By Malu Manar KIDAPAWAN CITY – The North Cotabato has reported its first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, a top official here said. Cotabato second district board member Dr. Philbert Malaluan, manager of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) of the Cotabato provincial government, said the first confirmed COVID-19 case was a 45-year old male who attended a seven-cock derby last month at the New Davao Matina Gallera at Matina, Davao City. Read more: Davao City official resigns for approving staging of cockfight derbies The patient, according to Malaluan, had also joined a gathering at a VIP room in one establishment in Davao City, along with other cock handlers from different areas in Mindanao. The VIP meeting was allegedly called for by a gallera owner who has died due to COVID-19. The patient, he stressed, had his test for done last March 21, and the results came out on April 6. The patient had manifested flu-like symptoms, and was already in stable condition when he was told to undergo another Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory test to find out if he was positive for the viral infection or not, according to Malaluan. The patient, as of Monday, has already been placed at the PUIs isolation room at the Cotabato Provincial Hospital at the Amas capitol complex, here “We have already done contact tracing… hospital personnel, including his family members are now under quarantine,” said Malaluan. Aside from the patient, there were two more cock handlers from North Cotabato who were placed at the isolation facility after they manifested flu-like symptoms. Their PCR laboratory tests are still pending, he explained.