THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has suspended for 14 days the issuance of travel authority to locally stranded individuals (LSIs) who wish to go home to Eastern Visayas region.
In a Laging Handa public briefing Thursday, June 25, 2020, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said he and National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. have confirmed that the spike in coronavirus infections in the region was due to the influx of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and LSIs.
"Nagkaroon talaga ng spike dito sa Region 8, a total of 431 cases at ang active ay 392. Ang mga doctors at nurses natin ay umabot na ng 80 'yung mga infected," he reported a day after his and Galvez's trip to the region.
"Ito ay nakikita nating nagmula sa mga OFW at LSI. In fact sa LSI natin, 218 ang positive, kaya ang request ng ating mga local government officials, nagkaroon kami ng pulong doon, magkaroon muna ng suspension ang pagdadala ng LSI dito sa Region 8," he added.
Año said the isolation facilities in the region could no longer accommodate additional LSIs.
"Sa ngayon ay puno ang kanilang isolation facilities, so kung darating na naman ang LSI, ang problema nila ay paano nila i-quarantine itong mga LSI na ito," Año said.
"Ayaw naman nila na home quarantine ang gagawin dito kasi hindi sila sigurado baka lalabag sa protocol so I am going to accept the proposal," he added.
To address the problem, Año said LSIs will not be allowed to go home in the next two weeks.
"Ang gagawin natin for 14 days, ang lahat ng pupunta sa Region 8 ay iipunin nalang muna natin, tapos ihahatid natin ng barko after matapos 'yung 14 days," he said.
On Wednesday, Año and Galvez went to Tacloban City to look into the increasing cases of coronavirus infections in Eastern Visayas.
Based on protocol, repatriated OFWs and LSIs should undergo the 14-day mandatory quarantine in Metro Manila before proceeding to their hometowns.
However, due to the increase in OFW arrivals as well as the high number of LSIs, quarantine facilities in Metro Manila were fully occupied. This prompted the government to directly send OFWs and LSIs to their respective regions.
Returning residents are required to secure travel authority to ensure that they are not carriers of the novel coronavirus.
"There are still a lot of LGUs which have zero cases of coronavirus disease so we really have to understand their efforts of protecting their constituents from incoming travelers. This is the logic behind the importance of coordination as one of the requirements before a Travel Authority is issued," Eleazar said.
"If we are to remove travel authority as a requirement for travels outside Metro Manila, outside a province and highly-urbanized cities, then we would practically render the quarantine protocols useless," he added. (VoxPop Philippines)
