By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Return trips of Locally-Stranded Individuals (LSI) have been suspended once again after Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. met with officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), sea transport and shipping and airline companies on July 21, 2020.
Defensor told Daily Guardian that the suspension was based on the recommendation of the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The governor said the sea transport sector considered their voyages as regular trips rather than LSI-dedicated trips, based on the rules set by the IATF.
The IATF’s guidelines, which were amended as of July 16, 2020, indicated that regular travel between areas under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified GCQ were allowed.
Metro Manila is currently under GCQ while Western Visayas is under “medium-risk” Modified GCQ.
“The [national IATF] suspended the trips because they were not actually LSI trips. Because insofar as the sea transport sector is concerned, these were regular voyages. This is then because [the rules say] that trips between GCQ and MGCQ are allowed,” the governor said.
Defensor said this was a “grey area” for him given the continued high number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila.
“This to me is a grey area, because we all know the situation in Manila. It’s really dangerous and I think the IATF recognizes that,” he said.
He said that based on their meeting, they came up with the idea of “weekly quotas” based on the province’s capacity to receive LSIs, particularly isolation and treatment facilities.
“In the meantime, we planned for the resumption of LSI travels, on how we can facilitate it well. For example, with regard to sea voyages from Manila, we would be giving a weekly quota of how many they can send here based on our capacity. This will be based on the daily monitoring of the capacity of our quarantine facilities. It would be the same for airlines. This is for us to anticipate [LSI arrivals] properly,” he said.
The governor said he is unsure when the LSI return trips would resume, but he said it would depend on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
“I cannot give a date, but it depends on the situation. For example, we just learned of developments in Negros [Occidental] and we learned that just a while ago, so it can change on how Manila will also develop. What is important to us is that it would be safe for our LSIs to return, it would be safe for residents to return to Iloilo, and it would be safe for families in the province of Iloilo,” he said.
