Pangasinan mayor ready to face probe over mañanita

STO. TOMAS, Pangasinan, Philippines — There was no party and no quarantine protocol was violated.

The mayor of this town, Timoteo Villar III, issued the clarification after videos of the mañanita or midnight serenade during his birthday on May 6 were posted on Facebook by his son Dickerson, an incumbent councilor.

Villar said he welcomes any investigation, adding that his critics are aggravating the pandemic ”because they have nothing to do due to the lockdown.”

“I am going around to see to it that quarantine guidelines are strictly complied with. Our town is so far free from COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). Why should we violate the very rules that we should strictly implement?” he asked.

One of the videos shows Villar, who was not wearing a face mask, shaking hands with his visitors, among them police officers and local government officials.

Another video shows a police officer, said to be Capt. Peter Paul Sison, town police chief, handing a cake to Villar.

Dickerson, who was taking the videos, was overheard saying “Tulog tayong lahat sa kulungan, dami nating nilabag. Curfew, social distancing.”

The videos can no longer be viewed on Dickerson’s Facebook account, but they are still visible on the timeline of those who shared them.

Villar claimed only around 10 of his close friends and family members went to his house to serenade him. “It would be inhuman if I shoo them away,” he said.

He said some of the pictures of the gathering that went viral could have been edited to make it appear that physical distancing was not observed.

Meanwhile, in Pampanga, medic James Daniel Dancel, 32, and automotive mechanic John Raven Quizon, 23, were arrested after they were caught transporting boxes of liquor in an ambulance in Barangay San Roque in Magalang town on Wednesday. They also reportedly yielded a caliber .40 pistol.

The suspects, both job order employees of the Capas City government were dismissed and charged in court.  – Ding Cervantes