Moalboal town authorities arrested and jailed Cebuana beauty queen and her Spanish national boyfriend for swimming on a beach and drinking in Basdiot on Sunday, May 10, 2020, amid enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Police Senior Master Sergeant Jennelyn Awe, desk officer of the Moalboal Police Station, said Maria Gigante and Spanish boyfriend, Javier Filosa Castro, were arrested past 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Police said Gigante, 26, and Castro, 25, would face charges for violating the province-wide enhanced community quarantine protocols and a liquor ban in the said town.
According to police, 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.
The two are actually from Cebu City, the city with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, overtaking NCR’s Quezon City.
The town of Moalboal is located about 89 kilometers southwest of Cebu City.
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.
Also read: Cops to file charges vs Spanish national resident in Dasmariñas Village
Cebu City is now the COVID-19 epicenter of the Philippines
Cebu City is now considered as the epicenter of COVID-19 in the Philippines after it recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country.
As of May 11, Cebu City now has 1571 cases, while Quezon City has 1,558 cases of COVID-19.
On May 7, the Department of Health data showed the province of Cebu had recorded 200 cases in one day.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that a “big chunk” of cases in the province came from enclosed facilities, like jails, which she called “clusters.”
On May 10, the Department of Health Central Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH CVCHD) through the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center Sub-National Laboratory (VSMMC SNL) has released as of 5:00 pm on May 10 2020, six hundred sixty-three (663) test results; one hundred twelve (112) of which are positive results, with eight (8) being repeat tests of previously confirmed cases.
As of Sunday (May 10), the Philippines recorded a total of 10,794 COVID-19 cases, including 1,924 recoveries and 719 deaths.