Former inmate to Robin Padilla: Test kits please

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Former inmate Juniper Dominguez has reached out to former inmate and actor Robin Padilla for help on test kits.

Dominguez who traces his roots from Sagada and Sabangan in his Facebook post said Sagada was visited by a number of tourists since January on to March making Sagada folks possible suspect of having the corona virus.

Some asymptomatic cases have turned to be Covid-19 positive upon testing.   

Test kits are much needed in the prevention of the spread of Covid including those among  asymptomatic cases. 

Sagada is one among the ten zero-Covid towns of Mountain Province.

Dominguez was a former inmate of the New Bilibid Prison and released upon having been granted conditional pardon in 1998. along with Padilla by former President Ramos in 1997.

He met actor Robin Padilla who was then convicted for illegal possession of firearms in 1994 and released after having been granted conditional pardon by then President Ramos in 1997. Padilla was granted executive clemency by President Rodrigo Duterte in November 2016.

Through the years at the New Bilibid Prison and outside of jail, Dominguez and Padilla became close friends.

Padilla is known for his humanitarian help in times of disaster the latest of which his donation to Marawi victims in the amount of P5 million in 2017.   

In a related post, Dominguez in his letter to the editor of Manila Times said, “I hope and pray that Project ARK and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd will share part of that 500K rapid test kits to the Municipality of  Sagada.”

More than 500,000 antibody rapid test kits was acquired through private-sector led Project ARK.

PCR swab testing equipment including automated extractor machines were donated by private sector donors for RT-PCR tests on government hospitals and selected private hospitals.  Concepcion forwards that aggressive mass testing use both antibody rapid tests and RT-PCR tests.

            ARK’S COVENANT Project ARK’s massive rapid testing initiative with the Department of Health, Red Cross Philippines and Go Negosyo partners, intends to make swab testing price more affordable  with less than P1,700 per PCR test, with 30,000 tests a day in 45 days and within the next three months