ILOILO City – Tonight or early morning tomorrow, 87 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are returning to Western Visayas.
Their ship left the Port of Manila yesterday afternoon, according to Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 director Jose Roberto Nuñez.
The 87 Ilonggo OFWs were residents of Aklan (eight), Antique (seven), Bacolod City (eight), Capiz (13), Guimaras (three), Iloilo (36), and Negros Occidental (12).
All of them were subjected to reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test and were found to be negative of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said Atty. Roy Villa, spokesperson of the Regional Task Force COVID-19 chaired by Nuñez.
The task force set the following conditions for returning Ilonggo OFWs:
* must have undergone RT-PCR test with negative result conducted within seven days prior to boarding
* must have certification that they have finished a 14-day quarantine
* must have medical certificates that they are asymptomatic and in good health
In a letter to Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo, Nuñez stated that the ship transporting the OFWs would first drop those from Bacolod City and Negros Occidental at the Bredco Port in Bacolod before proceeding to Fort San Pedro of Iloilo City.
From Port San Pedro, the OFWs would be taken to a hotel on General Luna Street for a 14-day quarantine and another RT-PCR test.
The local government units of the OFWs, however, have the option of taking them to their hometowns from Fort San Pedro.
On the part of the Iloilo City government, Mayor Jerry Treñas said the OFW residents of the city would be subjected to RT-PCR test again and would be billeted at a hotel while waiting for the results.
Those who test negative for COVID-19 would be allowed to go home for the continuation of their quarantine.
Those who test positive for the disease would be transferred to the St. Therese Hospital, the city government’s identified COVID-19 isolation facility.
From the first two batches of OFWs who returned to the region last month, 23 tested positive for COVID-19, data from the Department of Health showed. Here’s the breakdown:
* Aklan – one
* Antique – three
* Guimaras – two
* Iloilo province – four
* Negros Occidental – four
* Bacolod City – two
* Iloilo City – seven
Yesterday, the Department of Health Region 6 announced that four more OFWs from these two batches tested positive. They were the following:
* 50-year-old male from Molo, Iloilo City (Patient No. 94)
* 30-year-old male from La Paz, Iloilo City (Patient No. 95)
* 23-year-old male from City Proper, Iloilo City (Patient No. 96)
* 45-year-old male from Talisay City, Negros Occidental (Patient No. 97)/PN
