By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Less than a day after it was announced, travel restrictions from Iloilo to Bacolod City and Negros Occidental were lifted on Wednesday, July 22.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas announced the lifting through the city government’s official Facebook page.
“Upon due consideration, the City of Iloilo hereby reconsiders its decision to ban the travel of passengers from Iloilo City to Bacolod and vice versa. We apologize to everyone for the inconvenience,” he said in a statement.
In a message to Daily Guardian, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. also confirmed the lifting of restrictions from the province.
There are regular trips to Bacolod City from Dumangas town port.
Treñas first announced the suspension of travel to and from Bacolod City on Tuesday, July 21, based on recommendations by a team of private doctors in the city.
The recommendation was based on the advisory posted by Riverside Medical Center (RMC) in Bacolod City, saying it has reached full capacity in admitting and treating COVID-19 patients.
The mayor on Wednesday told Daily Guardian via text message that the hospital’s advisory “triggered” the doctors to recommend the travel ban.
“It seems that the Riverside Medical Center (RMC) in Bacolod made a social media post which triggered a scare in our doctors in the city,” he said.
Defensor followed Treñas shortly by announcing the closure of travel from the ports in Dumangas and Estancia towns.
In response, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia also stopped travel from Bacolod City to Iloilo city and province, as well as Guimaras province.
Mayor Raul Gerona of Tabuelan town in Cebu also closed passenger services to Iloilo and Negros on Tuesday.
But in a statement, RMC clarified that its capacity to admit COVID-19 patients remains manageable.
RMC said its isolation facility “has only 11 beds, of which 8 are occupied by COVID-19 positive patients with mild symptoms and 3 are occupied by probable patients.”
“In addition, there are 8 Suspected/Probable patients admitted outside the Isolation Facility but within the designated COVID-19 area at the 5th floor of the hospital. The RMCI has allocated 20% or 53 beds out of its bed capacity for COVID-19 related cases. As of July 21, 2020, only 19 beds or 36% are occupied with ZERO deaths, since the start of the pandemic. This is considered a low census for COVID-19 cases admitted in a healthcare facility.”
Several Bacolod-bound passengers who had no inkling of the ban were stranded for several hours at the fast craft terminal in Lapuz, Iloilo City.
Some of them said they were surprised by the trip suspension.
BACOLOD CITY
In a statement posted to the Bacolod City’s Public Information Office Facebook page on Wednesday, Leonardia also announced the resumption of trips after communicating with Treñas, Department of Interior and Local Government-6 Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero, and Office of Civil Defense-6 Director Jose Roberto Nuñez
“I’ve just talked with Mayor Jerry Treñas, [Regional Inter-Agency Task Force] Chair DILG RD Ingeniero and [Western Visayas Regional Task Force] Chair OCD RD Jose Nuñez and they explained to me the circumstances that led to the closure of Iloilo City’s borders to people coming from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental and Oriental. I also reiterated to them that our position was a form of reciprocity. In conclusion, we all agreed to REOPEN both borders effective immediately,” Leonardia said.
APPEAL
Hours before the ban was lifted, the regional offices of the Department of Health (DOH-WV CHD), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-6), and Office of Civil Defense (OCD-6) appealed to Treñas and Leonardia to resume travel between the two cities.
In a joint statement, the DOH, DILG and the OCD said that the regional task forces are monitoring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the region.
“May we request the Iloilo City Government and Bacolod City Government to reconsider its intent to hold travel from Bacolod to Iloilo and vice versa. The [Western Visayas Regional Task Force] and [the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force] are closely monitoring the data of COVID cases in the Region and will provide appropriate recommendations as needed.”
