The sister of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III– Catherine Bello– died due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This was confirmed by Bello during the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday.

“Just this morning, we received the news that my sister, my favorite sister Cathy, already left us,” Bello said.

Bello said his sister had been confined in a hospital on March 25 and was found to have been infected with the virus.

“She was about to recover pero ‘di ko alam anong nangyari, nag-relapse (I don’t know what happened, there was a relapse),” he said.

“Paborito ko si Catherine, sumusunod sa akin ‘yun, the first to die among 10 children (She was my favorite. She listened to me, she was the first to die among 10 children.),” he said./Stacy Ang