5 NegOcc fire marshals face relief for attending Boracay party

Five fire marshals in the Negros Occidental face relief from service if they will be proven to be among those who attended a farewell party at a hotel in Boracay island, breaching health protocols imposed by the local government of Malay, Aklan.

The five fire marshals are from Bacolod, Silay, Bago, San Carlos and Cadiz.

They stayed in a hotel from June 12 to 14 supposedly to attend a seminar, but officials found out that the group held a “despedida” party for one of their colleagues.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has ordered an investigation into the report after one of the attendees tested positive for coronavirus.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) head office has created a Special Investigation Task Force to conduct a probe particularly on the extent of participation of each involved personnel.

"They were just relieved of their current positions. They are placed in floating status while undergoing investigation,” Año said.

The 26-year-old female personnel was named Patient 143 by the Department of Health-Western Visayas. She is a locally stranded individual from Cebu.

The female BFP officer also allegedly declared inaccurate travel history and attended a “despedida” or farewell party in Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan that was organized by the BFP.

She attended the party while waiting for the confirmatory result of her Covid-19 test instead of undergoing quarantine, according to local authorities.

The incident caused the relief Fire Senior Superintendent Roderick Aguto, regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection.

A total of 28 personnel of the BFP are under investigation for allegedly attending the party from June 12 to 14.

Aside from Boracay Island, Aguto’s group also went to a beachside resort in Antique province.

The BFP’s breach of protocol created a ripple effect in several areas of Western Visayas, particularly in Boracay, with authorities scrambling to trace people who may have had contact with the group.

Authorities in Antique province and Iloilo City, the regional capital, had to also conduct separate contact tracings.

Fire Senior Superintendent Jerry Candido, officer-in-charge of BFP-Western Visayas, said the possible relief of personnel will affect the agency.

"We lack officials in the region," Candido said.

Caretakers have been assigned to the five fire stations while the officials are under quarantine.

A total of 197 people have been placed under quarantine, including the 28 BFP personnel, 24 staff members of the hotel where they stayed. The boatmen who ferried them to and from the island were also quarantined.