ILOILO City – After his initial reluctance to the unimpeded return of Ilonggo overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded in Metro Manila, Cebu and elsewhere, Mayor Jerry Treñas announced yesterday a plan to fetch them – and using a private airplane.
Upon their return, the OFWs would be tested for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using rapid test kits, he said.
OFWs whose test results are positive would undergo confirmatory tests.
Treñas’ new plan is a complete turnaround from his previous stance that Ilonggo OFWs must first be tested in their place of origin and must be certified as free from COVID-19 before returning to Iloilo.
The mayor announced the plan amid criticisms of his being unfair to the OFWs for allowing the return here from Metro Manila of a close associate’s daughter who turned out positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Before carrying out his plan, according to Treñas, the number of stranded Ilonggo OFWs must first be ascertained so that the city government could procure the needed rapid test kits.
According to the mayor, he learned that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) does not have available test kits.
At present, he said, the city government has 1,500 rapid test kits.
The OFWs, upon their return, would also be quarantined for 14 days in three quarantine facilities here – St. Therese-MTCC Hospital, Diamond Jubilee Hall, and University of Iloilo-PHINMA.
These three quarantine sites have a combined 300 beds, said Treñas.
On April 13, the mayor blasted OWWA: “The OFWs should have been tested before going home. We could have saved our frontliners and the rest of their fellow passengers from the risk of infection.”
On the second week of April OWWA shipped to Iloilo City some 40 OFWs stranded in Cebu. One eventually tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
“So I was terribly mad at OWWA. Waay nagsunod sang protocol. I told them ‘Yudiputa’ kamo. Indi na ‘ya pwede matabo,’” said Treñas then. “The OFWs should have been tested before going home. We could have saved our frontliners and the rest of their fellow passengers from the risk of infection.”
Critics recalled these statements of Treñas following his decision to allow the return here from Metro Manila of his close associate’s daughter who turned out positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Last week, members of the Western Visayas Regional Task Force (RTF) on COVID-19 drew up protocols on returning OFWs.
In Resolution No. 12, the task force listed the following conditions that returning OFWs must meet “to ensure the general welfare of the repatriates and the safety of residents in Region 6”:
* OFWs shall submit their COVID-19 real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test results from their country of origin should it be available.
* OFWs shall undergo RT PCR test prior to departure from their immediate point of entry. Only those whose results are negative will be allowed to depart and accepted in Region 6. Only Department of Health (DOH)-approved tests shall be accepted as valid results.
* OFWs are required to undergo 14-day quarantine and must be asymptomatic prior to departure from their immediate point of entry./PN
