By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia appealed to owners of hotels, inns, and pension houses here to make their rooms available to repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Leonardia called an emergency meeting of the City Inter- Agency Task Force against the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) after receiving a memorandum from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) ordering all governors, city and municipal mayors, chiefs of police, and DILG officials to facilitate the “unhampered mass transport of repatriated OFWs to all regions of the country.”
The DILG letter, signed by Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing III, said more than 24,000 OFWs stranded in Metro Manila shall be transported to their respective provinces and cities at an estimate of 8,000 OFWs per day using various modes of transport – air, land, and sea.
“This is a time that we appeal to your sense of public service, or even sense of patriotism. This is a matter where our national interest is of utmost concern. We appeal for your cooperation and participation in assisting our stranded OFWs,” Leonardia said.
The mayor thanked the owners of hotels and lodging facilities who have already signified their commitment to help the OFWs by reserving rooms for them.
“We assure the people of Bacolod that we are doing everything we can to help our OFWs return home, without putting the health of our people at risk,” Leonardia said.
Vice Mayor Elcid Familiaran said they are contacting the hotels and other lodging facilities for available rooms for the returning OFWs.
“We have no choice but to accept them. It’s already congested in Manila and our OFWs also want to go home,” the vice mayor added.
Familiaran said the city is implementing preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus. He said the returning OFWs must undergo RT-PCR tests (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) and test negative for the virus before they are allowed to board the aircraft or sea vessel.
“When the OFWs arrive, they are immediately sent to the city’s quarantine facilities. Only when they test negative for the virus can they be finally sent home,” the vice mayor further said.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson called on the city and municipal mayors in the province to prepare quarantine centers for OFWs.
In a press conference at the provincial capitol, Lacson expressed apprehension that there will not be enough quarantine centers for the returning OFWs.
He said he is also against subjecting repatriated Negrense OFWs to home quarantine because it might result to local transmission if they are positive for COVID -19.
“It is better that we hold them first before sending them home,” Lacson said.
The governor lamented that he was caught by surprise by the DILG memo and there was no preparation at all.
However, he said the DILG just followed orders from the President.
“We have to follow as well,” the governor said.
He also said that for now, the province has about 283 rooms ready for the arriving OFWs but these may not be enough.
