No repatriations to Bacolod, other areas on Dec 21-Jan 3

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – This city and two other local government units will no longer accept Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) until next year.

This, after the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force in Western Visayas approved the suspension of inbound travel of LSIs to Bacolod City and the towns of Hinobaan and La Castellana in Negros Occidental.

RIATF chairperson Juan Jovian Ingeniero, who is also the regional director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Western Visayas, approved the moratorium request of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF) in a resolution dated Dec. 8.

Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data analysis and assessment of EOC-TF, said the 2-week moratorium would give health workers some rest and enable the disinfection of isolation facilities.

He said frontliners need to rest as well.

On the other hand, LSIs will not be allowed to enter Hinobaan starting Dec. 16 to Dec. 22, and La Castellana, and Pontevedra from Dec. 22 to Jan. 5, as approved by the RIATF.

Manapla, Candoni, Moises Padilla, and Valladolid towns made the same requests, but the task force has yet to decide.

Earlier, the RIATF approved the requested moratorium on the return of LSIs and overseas Filipino workers from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3 in the cities of Himamaylan and Victorias, and the town of Calatrava, while the ban on the entry of LSIs to Cauayan will start from Dec. 20 until Jan. 3.

The concerned LGUs requested the suspension on the arrival of LSIs to disinfect and decongest their quarantine facilities and give frontliners much-needed rest.

The RIATF also approved the request of the provincial government of Negros Occidental for a moratorium on LSI arrivals on Dec. 24, 25, and 31 and Jan. 1, to give health workers and other frontliners time to rest and celebrate the holidays.

The provincial government also earlier turned down the appeal of airlines for additional flights for the yuletide season.