HPG exec probed over quarantine violation

MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) is under fire for allegedly ignoring a quarantine checkpoint when he visited Borongan City in Eastern Samar on Saturday.

Lt. Col. Joel Manuel Ana, HPG logistics officer at Camp Crame, is being investigated in connection with the incident.

Philippine National Police deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said both the HPG and Eastern Samar police are conducting the probe.

The Borongan City government said Ana, who was in a van, and his escorts on two motorcycles did not pull over at a checkpoint in Barangay Locsoon. The HPG official left the following day.

Eleazar said Ana made a side trip to his home in Borongan after delivering firearms and supplies to government forces in Tacloban City.

Borongan Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda said they would file charges against Ana for putting the city and its residents at risk.

Agda said the HPG official should have observed health protocols being implemented by the city government to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.

HPG director Brig. Gen. Eliseo Cruz said they would wait for the initial result of the probe before deciding on Ana’s fate.