RT-PCR no longer required for Iloilo City-bound LSIs

Iloilo City government will heed with the advisory of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that receiving local government units (LGUs) must shoulder the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing of returning locally stranded individuals (LSIs).

The advisory also required LSIs to secure medical clearances and travel authority before returning to their home provinces and cities.

Iloilo City COVID-19 Team spokesman Jeck Conlu said Mayor Jerry Treñas is set to issue an executive order (EO) in the coming days, prescribing the new updated requirements for returning LSIs.

“Indi na kita mag-require sa RT-PCR test sa mga LSIs. Buot silingon, diri na lang i-conduct ang swab test sa receiving LGU. Diri na lang sila itest kag iquarantine. Kon may ara sila inugbayad sa hotel, may option sila sa hotels,” he said.

On Aug 27, 2020, Treñas set the new requirements for returning LSIs in a letter addressed to Manuela Luisa Palma, acting airport manager of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Iloilo, Philippine Coast Guard Western Visayas (PCG-6) Commodore Edgar Boado, and Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Iloilo Port Manager Edgardo Goles.

According to the mayor, travel of arriving passengers shall be “subject to coordination with and acceptance of the local chief executive through the Iloilo City Emergency Operations Center (EOC).”

A notice of coordination and acceptance shall be obtained from the Iloilo City EOC upon submission of the following requirements – health declaration and undertaking, medical certification, and travel authority.

“I am afraid that if the influx of travelers remains uncontrolled, it will result in quarantine facility beds being outnumbered and to the overwhelming of our healthcare system as a whole. Both scenarios pose very grave threats which may even escalate to lethal results not only to infected individuals but also to our valued frontliners and eventually to the rest of the community,” he said in a letter.

In an advisory issued on Aug 25, the DILG reiterated that rapid antibody tests cannot be used as a stand-alone test to definitely diagnose or rule out the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from an individual.

Requiring so from LSIs seeking to go home would only be additional burden in cost and time for LSIs who may already be suffering the economic impact of the pandemic, the agency added.

Hence, the DILG said LSIs going home will only be required to submit medical certificate and travel authority prior to their departure while RT-PCR testing will be conducted by the receiving LGU upon the arrival of the LSI.

 

Capitol has reservations 

Despite apprehensions, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said on Thursday that he will follow the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) recent advisory allowing repatriated Locally-Stranded Individuals (LSI) to go home without first undergoing testing via rapid antibody and Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) techniques.

In a press conference on Thursday, the governor said that he, municipal and city mayors, and other provincial governors in the region, had apprehensions with the advisory issued on August 25, 2020 by DILG Assistant Secretary Marcelo Morales.

The advisory’s subject was testing requirements for LSIs.

The advisory reiterated that LSIs will only need Medical Certificate and Travel Authority prior to departure, and that RT-PCR testing will only be done by the receiving local government units (LGU) upon arrival.

He added that their apprehensions were based on the high level of local transmission in Metro Manila, which provides the greater bulk of LSIs into the region.

“There’s a memorandum, but I’m still checking the pulse of the local chief executives and the governors. We have a lot of apprehensions. We’re just trying to elevate the level of quarantine procedures that we should require if we let people travel from a high-risk area like Metro Manila to the provinces. We know that Metro Manila is GCQ and that inter-zonal travel is not prohibited, but we also know the level of transmission incidence and distribution in Metro Manila, and we know that it’s critical when you look at the numbers,” he said.

Defensor lamented that while they want the LSIs to come home, they cannot forget their responsibilities to the residents of the province who will be affected by these repatriations.

“So what do we do? We local chief executives also have an obligation to the 2 million Ilonggos and their families that we also protect them from those returning from high-risk areas. We cannot just forget about that. We want them to come home. We don’t say no if it’s necessary, but it’s better if we do the highest considerations. We are just balancing,” the governor said.

Despite their apprehensions, the governor said that they will have to follow the advisory as it is a regulation set by the national government.

“We’re just going to follow because it is a directive from the national government. Administrative regulations, they have the force and effect of law because they are derived from national statutes. They fill the gaps in between the lines of the law, in the process of implementation, so you’d have to follow,” Defensor said.

He said there would be no need to further amend Executive Order No. 128, as amended, which provided for the requirement of RT-PCR tests from LSIs prior to departure.

He also mentioned that there might be a problem with air travel should LSIs go home without testing, due to lack of social distancing in aircraft carriers.

“Right now, I don’t think we need to, because we adjust, and we have been adjusting. Of course, the airlines would have the misgivings there, because they put them in one aircraft that’s full [without RT-PCR test and without distancing], and that is a perfect place for transmission. Maybe the two positive cases in there would become 10 upon arrival,” the governor said. (Joseph B.A. Marzan and ERS)