BACOLOD City – Hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to return here this week.
As part of its preparation, the city government here will be setting up more quarantine facilities for the OFWs’ mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Councilor Renecito Novero, chairman of the city’s Quarantine Center Action Team (QCAT), said the city government will be tapping seven more hotels intended for returning migrant workers.
Novero said authorities here somehow managed to control the spread of the viral illness but expressed concern over the homecoming of OFWs.
“Mabudlay magpangita sang ila (OFWs) ilistaran. We are trying our best. Kabay pa makahangop ang mga kautoran ta di ri sa Bacolod,” Novero said.
The city government has converted public schools to serve as quarantine facilities for OFWs and suspected COVID-19 patients.
It also tapped private hotels to house all returning OFWs required to spend 14 days in quarantine on arrival in the city.
Last week, two groups of Bacolodnons stranded in Metro Manila and Palawan arrived in separate vessels at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. port here.
They comprise the fourth batch of the “Malasakit Voyage” passengers who have returned to Bacolod since April 28.
Councilor Israel Salanga, chair of the Action Team on Returning OFWs, welcomed the group and facilitated their transportation to a hotel, where they will undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
The city government is committed to strictly observe the health protocols on handling returning OFWs, he said.
The city government also has a quarantine facility at the Mariano G. Medalla Integrated School, where eight students of the University of the Philippines -Visayas spent their 14-day quarantine before they were sent home last week./PN
