BACOLOD City – The return of overseas Filipino workers (LSIs) to this metropolis will be temporarily suspended for four days.
Western Visayas’ Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF) in its Dec. 16 resolution signed by its chairperson Juan Jovian Ingeniero of the Department of Interior and Local Government Region 6 approved the request of the city government for a moratorium on Dec. 24 to 25 and Dec. 31 to Jan. 1.
Councilor Israel Salanga, chairman of the Action Team on Returning OFWs, said the suspension of repatriation would give sufficient time for frontliners to rest during Christmas Day and New Year.
This will also allow the conduct of repairs and maintenance of quarantine facilities before accommodating new batches, Salanga added
Last week, the RIATF also approved the city government’s request for moratorium on the inbound travel of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) beginning Dec. 21.
During the timeout, Councilor Cindy Rojas said they will reorganize quarantine facilities in preparation for the resumption of LSI arrivals on Jan. 3.
Meanwhile, Em Ang, city administrator and Emergency Operations Center Task Force executive director, mulls scrapping the mandatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for LSIs upon arrival.
But they should still obtain a negative swab test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) within 72 hours before their trip.
“When they arrive in the city with negative COVID-19 test results, they will no longer be required to undergo another swabbing. They will be allowed to go home but must observe 14-day quarantine,” Ang explained.
For the meantime, Ang said, the arriving LSIs will still be required to undergo swab test and facility quarantine.
As of Dec. 20, the city had a total of 5,558 COVID-19 cases, 123 of which were active, 5,262 recovered and 173 died./PN
