The Cebuana beauty queen and her Spanish national boyfriend would face additional charges for falsifying a document to pass through checkpoints in Cebu aside from their ECQ violations.
Authorities arrested Maria Gigante and boyfriend, Javier Filosa Castro, past 5 pm on Sunday for swimming on a beach amid quarantine restrictions.
According to Police Colonel Roderick Mariano, chief of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, the Public Safety Alliance for Transformation and Rule of Law (PATROL) party-list did not authorize the couple to conduct relief goods distribution in the southern part of Cebu.
“Investigators called the party-list group to verify the couple’s claim. It was found out that the group had not issued any authorization letter to them,” Mariano said in an interview.
The suspects were able to pass through checkpoints because they claimed they came from Dalaguete town and were going to Alegria to distribute relief goods. They used an authorization letter signed by the PATROL party-list.
The police allowed the two to travel though the certification only showed Castro’s name.
The two are actually from Cebu City, the city with one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
As of May 13, Cebu City reported 42 new cases, bringing the total to 1, 531. It has a total of 15 fatalities and 24 recoveries.
The town of Moalboal is located about 89 kilometers southwest of Cebu City.
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The Cebuana beauty queen is a graduate of Philosophy from the University of San Carlos. Maria Gigante was the second runner up for the title of Miss Binibining Cebu Charity 2017.
Authorities already filed charges against the lovers for violating Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code for resistance and disobedience to a person in authority.
As of 3 pm today, Wednesday, May 13, the Cebuana beauty queen and her Spanish boyfriend are still detained at the Moalboal Police Station.
Gigante and Castro already posted P3,000 bail for their violations, but they are still waiting for the Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Moalboal-Badian-Alcantara-Alegria to issue their release order.
As of this posting, the Philippines has recorded 11,618 cases (268 new cases), 771 deaths (21 added), and 2,251 recoveries.