STRANDED Davao City passengers who were not included in the first batches of the sweeper flight cannot expect to be immediately catered as the city cannot conduct a weekly sweeper flight since it is costly on the part of the local government.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in a radio interview on Monday, May 4, said that city government's first batch of sweeper flights to stranded individuals in the city to Clark in Pampanga and Manila on May 4 and 6, respectively, costs an estimated P3.8 million.
According to the mayor, a total of P1.4 million was spent on the May 4 flight, which catered an estimated 150 passengers. While the city is expected to shoulder an estimated P2.4 million to an estimated 400 passengers.
"Dili ta makapahigayon og kada semana nga sweeper flight (We cannot have a weekly sweeper flight) because it is very expensive," she said in a radio interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio, adding the city cannot shed out P2 million for the sweeper flights alone.
She said all initiated sweeper flights should be shouldered by the local government, as stated by the national government guidelines under Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
The mayor said the money was not sourced from the P462-million Bayanihan to Heal as One Act grant (Bayanihan grant), and that a Davao-based Chinese businessman shouldered all expenses for the first batch.
"Dili dali magpagawas og kwarta gikan sa gobyerno. Kahibalo mo ana nga medyo dugay basta i-process sa government. So naghangyo 'ta sa mga tao nga nag-offer sa ilang tabang sa city government (It is not that easy to shed out money from the government. It is understandable that it entails a process. So, we seek help from those who willingly offered assistance to the city government)," Duterte-Carpio said.
The mayor also revealed that only an estimated 50 to 60 passengers availed of the Davao to Clark flights, as compared to those in Clark to Davao flight.
"Nasayang ang pabalik na flight since wala kaayo nisakay pabalik Clark. Dili man pwede na one way, maong kinahanglan pud nimo bayaran ang pabalik pud because duna may expenses incurred (Only a few seats were availed on the flight back to Clark. The city still paid for those unoccupied seats since we cannot only cover the payment through one way because there were already expenses incurred)," she said.
Meanwhile, she said the city government would still rely on the gathered figure and data from the Davao City Stranded Persons Database Center (DCSPDC), whether the city government would be having another batch of sweeper flight in other parts of the country.
She urged those not included in the previous batch to continuously coordinate with DCSPDC.
DCSPDC is a database center for stranded individuals to report their situation through text hotline and email address posted on the City Government of Davao and CTOO Facebook pages.
The mayor also assured that the city government will "properly announce and schedule" the next sweeper flights.
