894 passengers from Manila arrived in Bacolod City – PCG

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Around 894 passengers from Metro Manila arrived at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) port here on Saturday.

Commander Jansen Benjamin, head of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) – Negros Occidental, said the passengers departed from Manila on March 13 and arrived here via a 2GO vessel around 4 p.m. the following day.

These passengers were those individuals who were able to come home before the lockdown in Manila was implemented midnight of March 15 until April 14, following the rapid increase of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country due to a reported local transmission.

Benjamin said the passengers who arrived at the port were checked by nurses and some personnel from the City Health Office (CHO) with the assistance of the PCG personnel and the Maritime police.

Benjamin said no passenger felt ill when they arrived here.

“Their temperatures were checked via thermal scanning, and they were required to go on home quarantine for 14 days,” he added.

He said they have not encountered any problem during the arrival of these passengers, as they were cooperative with the health and safety protocols of the authorities.

He said they will be monitored by the CHO through the health declaration forms.

Meanwhile, Benjamin said that the vessel passed by Iloilo to unload cargoes and some passengers before proceeding to Bacolod as part of the vessel’s travel route.

He said the vessel would usually load cargoes and allow passengers to board the vessel from Iloilo or Bacolod to Manila but because of the lockdown, only cargoes were allowed to be carried by the vessel.