Duterte submits negative swab results

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte was not spared from submitting the mandatory requirement of presenting a 24- to 72-hour negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result upon arrival here at the Davao International Airport the other night.

The President, who arrived on a private jet and immediately transferred to a waiting helicopter that ferried him home, presented an RT-PCR test negative result dated Oct. 18, 2020, in compliance with the city government’s airport safety protocol being implemented to manage COVID-19 cases in the area.

The negative test result was immediately submitted to the records section of the city government’s task force assigned at the airport.

The President’s daughter, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said, “the city government of Davao and the people of our city would like to thank President Rody for being our role model for everyone to follow.”

The mayor likewise said the President’s compliance with the city’s safety protocol serves as a reminder to all incoming passengers that nobody is exempted in observing the requirements and guidelines set to protect Davao City residents and those in neighboring cities and provinces.

“This also emphasizes to everyone that the RT-PCR is still the best test available and cannot be substituted with rapid test kits or antigen tests,” she said.

The Chief Executive has so far no official engagements for the rest of the week and shall then hold the weekly meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases here on Monday.

Duterte is also expected to spend the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in Davao City where the remains of his parents, former Davao governor Vicente Duterte and Soledad Duterte, are buried at the Davao Catholic Cemetery.

The President was actually supposed to come home the other week but was compelled to stay longer in Manila to address the speakership row in the House between Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. and now Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

The President also had to make sure that the P4.506-trillion proposed 2021 national budget was passed on time by Congress.

Aside from securing a negative RT-PCR test result, issued not more than 72 hours of their scheduled flight to Davao City, inbound passengers from any airport of origin may also avail themselves of the free RT-PCR testing at the DIA upon arrival.

But the mayor said in her recent radio program that passengers who opt to have their RT-PCR test at the DIA will have to wait for 15 hours to get the result. She advised passengers bound for the city to have themselves tested before their flights to avoid inconvenience at the arrival area.