By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – A total of 33 Badjao families with 75 members will be sent back soon to Jolo, Sulu.
They were rounded up in different areas in the city by the Department of Social Services on orders of Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
They were then housed at a facility in Barangay Vista Alegre while their return home to Jolo is being processed by a multi-agency task force from the Bacolod DSS and the Region 6 offices of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The city is providing these families their daily needs such as food, drinking water, cooking utensils, toiletries, mats and blankets, and other necessities.
DSS head Pacita Tero said that these families agreed to be sent home after they understood that they could become COVID-19 victims or become carriers of the virus when they roam around the city.
The lead agency for this effort is the OCD-Region 6 under Regional Director Jose Roberto Nuñez. The agency is now awaiting the acceptance of authorities of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Once accepted by BARMM, these Badjaos will be transported by land to Dumaguete City, and then on to Dapitan by sea.
OCD-BARMM in Dapitan will ensure their continued travel home to Jolo, Sulu.
“This effort to bring home these LSIs could not have been possible without the help of OCD-Region 6 and DILG-Region 6. We are also depending on the help of Secretary Martin Diño (Presidential Assistant for the Visayas) and Sen. Bong Go for the sea transport of these LSIs to Dapitan, otherwise, we will have no other means of sending these families home. We are grateful for their assistance,” Leonardia said.
Leonardia has already written Governors Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental Roel Degamo of Negros Oriental, and Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Remollo for the passes that may be needed when the Badjaos are transported to Dumaguete City to catch their boat trip to Dapitan from there.
