Zamora not to blame for quarantine breach – DILG

Magalong : Let courts determine guilt 

BAGUIO CITY — San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora did not abuse his authority when he and his companions visited Baguio City last week, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Tuesday.

“There is no issue on governance or abuse of authority,” Año said when asked if the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would ask Zamora to explain after the group of the local chief executive ignored a quarantine checkpoint on Kennon Road on June 7.

He cited reports that Zamora did not order his police escorts to speed away to the Baguio Country Club when pulled over at the checkpoint.

Unless Zamora’s police escorts would say that they were ordered to breach quarantine protocols, Año said there is no need for an explanation from Zamora.

The San Juan mayor apologized to Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the people of Baguio, saying he was asleep in his car when their convoy passed through the checkpoint.

Año blamed San Juan police officers, who were relieved from their posts, for the incident.

“Despite what happened, the party obliged and still underwent the screening and triage protocols,” he added.

Año said Magalong also accepted Zamora’s apology and has no intention to file charges against the San Juan mayor.

The DILG chief appealed for understanding for Zamora.

Año said the San Juan mayor explained that he brought his wife, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, to rest in Baguio City as advised by her doctors.

This as Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, in a statement Monday, appealed to the public to exercise greater discernment and restraint in prejudging, Zamora and the members of his group.

While Magalong admitted he “understands the public’s displeasure over the reported breach,” the mayor urged, “Let us however bear in mind that the full appreciation of facts and the proper evaluation of evidence at hand are best left to our courts or the rightful quasi-judicial bodies. This is how justice works.”

Magalong said “we have accepted the apologies of Mayor Zamora, no doubt conveyed in sincerity. But in my talk with him, I emphasized that it is to the people of Baguio, not I, who deserve to do that. After all, it is their primordial health and well-being that Mayors like him and I are consecrated to work for in these troubled times.”

Enraged netizens have pitched an online petition urging city officials to declare Zamora “persona non grata”.

Magalong, dousing enraged complaints by Baguio residents, especially those facing difficulties in acquiring out-of-town travels, said "complaints have already been lodged and the PNP hierarchy has directed a formal investigation, purposely to determine culpability, based on our complaint."