LSI from Cebu sneaks into Negros for work amid travel suspension

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – Authorities took a 25-year-old man to a quarantine facility in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental Friday last week after he allegedly sneaked into the province on July 5, 2020 amid the travel ban on locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from Cebu.

Major Mark Angelo Junco, city police chief, said the man hitched a ride with his father, who delivered goods to the province.

The father presented proper documents for the cargo delivery while he used his old documents when he was still working for his father’s employer to enter the province via Danao port in Escalante City, Junco added.

But police received a call informing them about the arrival of an LSI in the city, prompting them to locate the man, who is a native of Toledo City, Cebu, but works for a fast-food chain in Negros Occidental.

Junco said the man apologized for his mistake and told them that poverty pushed him to do it since he could not travel back to work due to the lockdown.

Junco said that the man was already subjected to a swab test. His five other companions in a rented house were advised to be on home quarantine pending the results of the swab test.

They will be strictly monitored by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs), he added.

Junco said that the man did not have a public exposure since he arrived here two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the man’s father was allowed to go back to Toledo because he had valid travel documents.