2 Cotabato Diocesan missionaries succumb to COVID-19

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two priests belonging to the Diocesan Clergy of Cotabato succumbed one after another to COVID-19 infection Friday.

The first to die in a hospital here was diocesan priest Loreto Sanoy, followed by Rex Bacero about five hours later.

Sanoy was assistant parish priest in Cotabato City’s Rosary Heights Parish.

Bacero was president of the Notre Dame of Salaman College in the seaside Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat.

They tested positive for coronavirus last week and, subsequently, got hospitalized for breathing problems, fever and body malaise.

Colleagues of the two priests in the diocesan community told reporters they are ready to help in any contact-tracing tracing effort meant to locate all those who had contact with the duo before they died Friday.