The Coronavirus continues to leave truly unusual episodes and, sometimes, with a very sad outcome. A man in the Philippines has died after being forced to do 300 squat exercises as punishment for violating the country's strict Covid-19 curfew rules.
Darren Manaog Penaredondo, 28, was buying water at a local store in Cavite province, south of Manila, last Thursday when local authorities arrested him for violating the 6pm curfew.
Squats as punishment
A relative, Adrián Lucena, said on Facebook that Penaredondo and others caught breaking curfew had been forced to do 100 squat exercises as punishment. According to Lucena, the group was told to do the squats in sync, but if one of them was out of sync, the group would have to repeat the entire set. Lucena indicated that Penaredondo and the others ended up doing 300 repetitions.
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The man's girlfriend, Reichelyn Balce, told local news outlet Rappler that Penaredondo was in a lot of pain and returned Friday morning.
"When he returned around eight in the morning, he was being assisted by another curfew violator," he said. “I asked him if he had been beaten up, but he just smiled. It was obvious that he hurt a lot ».
Balce told news outlet ABS-CBN that Penaredondo had broken curfew to buy water, but that he, too, was looking for soft drinks.
trouble walking
Balce added that Penaredondo had trouble walking and was crawling because of pain in his knees and thighs. Later that day, he started having seizures. "His face turned purple and his heart stopped beating," Balce said in the middle.
A local official, Rodolfo Cruz Jr., confirmed in a phone interview with Rappler that Penaredondo was detained by town guards and transferred to police on Thursday. However, Lieutenant Colonel Marlo Nillo Solero, chief of police for the city of General Trias, denied the family's accusations, telling Rappler that "there was no such punishment."
Mayor Antonio Ferrer of General Trias said in a Facebook post Monday that the case was being investigated and that he had been in contact with the family.
