Police to conduct house visits, repatriates tracing

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Police Colonel Romy Palgue, officer-in-charge of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo), said on Thursday that they are planning to conduct house visitations in barangays to help the local government units (LGUs) identify households whose family members and relatives are scheduled to arrive in the province amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Palgue said that this initiative will enable LGUs and villages to prepare for the arrival of the returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs).

Palgue said data that will be gathered by the police from the villages will be submitted to the concerned government agencies for planning and decision making.

He suggested this plan to address the concern of some LGUs in the “sudden” arrival of OFWs and LSIs through repatriation via sea and air travel.

He said that households may know the scheduled arrival of their loved ones because of their constant communication with them. With that, the LGU can prepare better and assign policemen and other personnel to fetch them before their arrival, he added.

“In that way, we will be able to care and accommodate them well, and prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the Nocppo’s officer-in-charge said.

He encouraged the public to cooperate, as he stressed that their plan is not related to the anti-terror bill.

“Ito po ay ginagawa ng pulis para sa kapakanan ng taong bayan dahil gusto natin na lahat ng Negrense ay mapapagserbisyuhan at maprotektahan ng kapulisan,” he said.

The Negros top cop also noted that “from this, we can also identify who wants to avail of the national government’s Balik Probinsya Program as an effort to revitalize other areas outside of the nation’s capital in Manila.”

Meanwhile, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson announced on Thursday that the province has a total of 2,408 returnees from March 30 to June 10. The number includes 949 OFWs and 1,459 LSIs.