By Francis Allan L. Angelo
The Regional Interagency Task Force (RIATF) for COVID-19 in Western Visayas on Saturday granted the requests of Guimaras province and three Iloilo towns to suspend the repatriations of locally stranded individuals due to shortage of quarantine facilities and other reasons.
In Resolution Nos. 48 and 49 issued over the weekend, the RIATF approved the suspension of LSI repatriations to Guimaras and the towns of Pavia, Oton, and Janiuay in Iloilo.
The suspension came after the national IATF lifted the moratorium on repatriations to Western Visayas on Sept 7, 2020 via Resolution No. 69.
In an Oct 14, 2020 letter to the NIATF, Guimaras province requested a 7-day moratorium on the travel of LSIs to the island province for their assessment, repositioning, and consolidating of their limited resources to cater to the arrival of LSIs.”
The request was granted and takes effect today, Oct 19 to 25.
On the other hand, the town of Oton sent their request for a 7-day moratorium on Oct 8 for the decongestion of quarantine facilities.
The towns of Janiuay and Pavia on Oct 9 requested for a 14-day suspension on the repatriations also “to decongest, disinfect and prepare the additional Municipal Quarantine Facilities and give their frontliners and health workers a break.”
The approved schedules of the moratoriums in Janiuay and Pavia are on Oct 19 to Nov 2 while in Oton it takes effect on Oct 19-25.
The resolutions were signed by Department of Interior and Local Government OIC-Director and RIATF chair Juan Jovian Ingeniero, Department of Health-6 Director and RIATF vice chair Marlyn Convocar, and RIATF Head Secretariat Christian M. Nagaynay.
