A pastor in Cagayan De Oro City was arrested after conducting a worship service attended by at least 500 church members on Sunday.
Pastor Allan Caslam was arrested for violating the ban on mass gathering due to the coronavirus disease or COVID-19 threat.
Captain Sebastian Chua said that Caslam was caught conducting service at Capistrano Street on Sunday morning at the Word of God Spirit and Life Ministries, a church founded by Caslam.
The pastor is now facing charges for violation of section 9 (d) of Republic Act 13332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
“Non-cooperation of persons and entities that should respond to notifiable diseases or health events of public concern,” the law states.
Caslam could face imprisonment for one to six months and a fine of at least Php50,000.
“We warned him last Sunday (March 29) about policies on social distancing and mass gathering due to the coronavirus, but it seems he did not heed our warning,” Chua told the Inquirer.
Caslam said that he did not expect the church attendees will reach hundreds.
“We were told to observe social distancing, which we complied. In fact, we arranged the seats to ensure that there would be spacing in between churchgoers,” he said.
