SAN JOSE, Antique – Ninety locally stranded individuals (LSIs) are now home via a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight that landed at the Antique Airport in this capital town.
PAL has resumed again its operations in this province on Wednesday.
Provincial information officer Junlee Saylo said the aircraft carrying 86 adults and four infants arrived around 9:15 a.m. on July 15 from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.
According to Saylo, 89 of the passengers were Antiqueños. The other one, meanwhile, was a Passi City, Iloilo resident who was picked up at the airport by the vehicle provided by the city government.
“As for the outbound passengers, there were 85 passengers,” he added.
The PAL operation in this province was temporarily suspended since March 16 due to the enhanced community quarantine to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.
It resumed operations last June 28 but was again suspended for two weeks starting June 29.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government, in an advisory released on July 13, lifted the travel ban for LSIs to Western Visayas effective July 15.
The movement of LSIs from areas under enhanced and modified enhanced community quarantine, on the other hand, is still not allowed.
Meanwhile, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Broderick Train said they installed a triage area right at the airport to ensure that the passengers would undergo the necessary health protocols upon arrival.
“The passengers were then fetched by the vehicles of their respective LGUs (local government units) so that they could be transported straight to their isolation facilities,” he added.
The LSIs who returned need to undergo their mandatory 14-day quarantine in isolation centers so that they could be closely monitored by local health officers. (With a report from PNA/PN)
