BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Mandalagan village councilman Hernani Castor has admitted that people did come to his house in a residential subdivision here to get Home Quarantine Passes.
Castor told DNX the residents who came to his house located in Santa Clara Street were mostly neighbors in Pueblo Rosario Subdivision in Eroreco, one of the older addresses here, where he had been the longest-serving president of the homeowners association.
“It was in order to save time and speed up the distribution,” he said.
Castor reacted to what was reported by a local television station as a netizen-contributed report with a photo that shows what looked like people filling out forms, reportedly in Castor’s house.
The retired detailman now village official told DNX he accommodated the requests for two reasons.
The first was that time was running out and village officials had to cover 16 sub-villages in distributing the HQPs that are essentially permits to allow a person to buy food and other necessities during a lockdown state.
The second was that homeowners who he personally knew, complained to him that some officials of the Pueblo Rosario Homeowners Association, Inc. will not release HQPs to those who have not paid their monthly dues.
The mayor here had ordered that the passes be given out for free.
Mandalagan has at least 26,000 residents, making it one of the most populated villages here.
