Davao City – Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte on Monday warned arriving plane passengers not to falsify Covid 19 test results after another passenger was caught with a fake real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result at the Davao International Airport.
Duterte, during her Davao City Disaster Radio program yesterday, said it is pointless to fake RT-PCR results as flight passengers can undergo free swab testing upon their arrival at the airport.
“There is really no reason kung ngano mag- effort sila or mupalit sila o mokuha sila o magbuhat sila anang mga fake RT-PCR results. Dili jud ni sya ginapalampas, ginapareport nato og ginapasakaan og kaso. Mas mudako na ilang problema (There is really no reason for them to make such an effort to buy, get, or make fake RT-PCR) results. We don’t give any consideration on that, we report it, and file a case. They would now face a bigger problem),” she said.
City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Generose Tecson yesterday confirmed to the City Information Office (CIO) that Cherry Conisang, who boarded the first Cebu Pacific flight from Manila on Monday morning, presented a negative RT-PCR result dated December 5 from Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory in Mandaluyong City but upon their online validation, the document turned out to be owned by Ramil Gabuyo.
She said this was the third incident that they caught an airline passenger with a fake RT-PCR test result.
Tecson said, “In our verification counters, we ask for the hard or soft copy of the submitted RT-PCR result of their health declaration form and scan it. In this recent case, after we scanned (the test result) a different name came out in the QR.”
Conisang, like the two other violators in the past, was also brought to the police station after getting her swab results for investigation, and the incident’s entry into the police blotter.
The tourism chief said the case was filed and Conisang had to post bail for her temporary liberty.
Tecson added that those who fake their RT-PCR test results either don’t want to be swabbed or want to exit the airport immediately. Others, according to her, may still not know that the city is providing free RT-PCR testing at DIA.
Faking RT-PCR results, she continued, also poses a great risk to the public.
“What if they’re positive and they continue to go around. It would be very unfortunate for their families and those they encounter in public transportation, in malls, and offices,” she said.
(City Information Office)
