BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has encouraged local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental build more quarantine facilities to accommodate returning Negrenses.
“The more quarantine facilities we have, the faster we can bring in Negrenses,” said Lacson.
Some 1,600 Negrenses stranded across the Philippines due to travel restrictions brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak have registered in the Capitol’s online database.
He said Cadiz City, headed by Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr., has set up a quarantine area in a “Yolanda” housing site, which can accommodate an initial 30 people.
“They can accept up to 30 for now, but they’re still preparing for more. I’d like to thank Mayor Bading Escalante for his willingness to open up his city in accepting Negrenses for quarantine,” Lacson said.
He said he has learned that Silay City also has homes that can be used but he has yet to receive a formal offer from the city government that these can be used as a quarantine facility.
“If there is any LGU that can do this, please let the province know so we can coordinate,” Lacson said.
He however noted that setting up a quarantine facility is not just a matter of having available rooms.
“You have to provide food. You have to provide health workers, and of course, you have to provide security in coordination with the Philippine National Police,” Lacson said.
The provincial government manages two patient care centers for returning Negrenses required to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine before getting a clearance to go home to their respective towns and cities.
These are the Provincial Healing Center at the “Yolanda” housing site in EB Magalona that can accommodate some 200 individuals, and the Mambukal Resort in Murcia town that can accept 100 persons.
All Negrenses who came home since April have been quarantined in either of the two facilities, but a group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned to Negros Occidental on April 28 has been moved to the Go Hotel in Bacolod after the province signed a contract with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration for their transfer.
Of the 27 OFWs, three have tested positive for Covid-19 and have been isolated in the Provincial Healing Center. (PNA)
