BACOLOD CITY – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Bacolod District Office suspended its operations from Jan. 18-22 after five of its employees tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Lawyer Renoir Baldovino, agent-in-charge of NBI-Bacolod, said on Monday those who contracted the virus did not include agents and were all administrative personnel and clearance issuance staff.
“Upon the advice of the local Inter-Agency Task Force, we shut down our office up to Friday to give way for disinfection. Those who tested negative also went on voluntary quarantine,” Baldovino said in a telephone interview with Capitol reporters.
The NBI-Bacolod will resume operation on Jan. 25.
Baldovino, whose test came out negative, said the five employees were already isolated in one of the city’s Covid-19 facilities on Sunday.
“Contract tracing is being conducted, based on the interviews with the five,” he added.
The local NBI office, located beside the Negros Occidental Multi-Purpose Activity Center on Aguinaldo St., has nine regular personnel and is supplemented by about 20 local government unit-detailed workers.
“We advise those who have transactions not to come to the NBI office for now,” Baldovino said.
Meanwhile, the offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Region 12 and Revenue District Office 77 in Bacolod were temporarily closed on Monday for a thorough disinfection, an advisory signed by Regional Director Antonio Jonathan Jaminola said.
Regular office operations will resume on Tuesday, he added. (PNA)
