MANILA, Philippines (Update 2, 7:24 p.m.) — Sen. Manny Pacquiao and his family have been told to stay home by his antsy neighbors in an exclusive village in Makati City after a video showing him partying with another lawmaker infected by the coronavirus went viral on social media.
In a letter to the senator, Barangay Dasmariñas homeowners said Pacquiao is effectively a “person under monitoring” after a video of Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III partying at Pacquiao’s house circulated on the internet. Philstar.com could not independently verify the footage nor trace its origin.
Pimentel, who announced earlier this week that he contracted the dreaded disease, received public condemnation for breaching his home quarantine protocol when he accompanied his pregnant wife to Makati Medical Center and exposed health workers who assisted them to the virus. He also went shopping at S&R Supermarket in Bonifacio Global City.
In an interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday, Pacquiao said members of the ruling PDP-Laban political party, including their president Pimentel, had a meeting at Pacquiao’s residence in Makati City last March 4.
Pimentel said he received his test results on evening of March 24. He took a swab test for the disease last March 20 after experiencing body pains and other symptoms since March 14.
“Many of your colleagues in Senate have been identified to be COVID positive. Therefore, you have to be quarantined at your own house,” Barangay Dasmariñas residents told Pacquiao.
“For your own family and household’s safety, please have yourself self quarantined, stay home. No one including any of your household can come out,” they added.
“If you need something, please call the barangay... We can procure things for you and send it to your doorstep.”
Aside from Pimentel, Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara and Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri also tested positive for the disease.