ILOILO – For the concreting and maintenance of provincial and farm-to-market roads, the provincial government purchased 10 additional dump trucks.
For the time being, however, the trucks will be temporarily used to fetch returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and locally-stranded individuals (LSIs), said Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.
Each unit costs P4.7 million.
To provide comfort to the ROFs and LSIs, a shell and car seats will be installed at the back.
Because they are open and have large spaces fit for social distancing, the dump trucks are an ideal transport vehicle.
The province lacks vehicles to transport returning Ilonggos back to their municipalities, Defensor acknowledged.
As of Aug. 27 data of the Western Visayas task force on coronavirus disease 2019, 4,715 LSIs and 2,105 ROFs have returned to Iloilo province since March.
On Sept. 3 at the provincial capitol grounds, the trucks were inaugurated.
The new dump trucks will augment the existing truck teams that attend to provincial and barangay roads.
“We are now doing an inventory of the remaining unpaved provincial roads,” said Defensor./PN
