BACOLOD City – At least 35 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who recently arrived in Negros Occidental are now under a 14-day quarantine at the “healing center” set up by the provincial government in E.B. Magalona town.
The group includes 20 residents of various towns and cities, as well as 15 from this capital city.
Travel restrictions due to the enhanced community quarantine imposed in Luzon and some provinces in the Visayas to control the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have left a number of Negrenses stranded in various parts of the country.
Zeaphard Caelian, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division, said the 35 comprised the first batch of the 90 OFWs from Negros Occidental transported from Cebu.
They were allowed to enter the province after submitting a certificate of completion of the required 14-day quarantine in their host-province or place of origin, he added.
Once they arrive in Negros Occidental, they are “subjected to (yet another) 14-day quarantine and classified as persons under monitoring regardless of the quarantine undergone in the host-province or place of origin,” based on the protocols set for the repatriation of OFWs.
“(This is) to ensure the safety and general welfare of the province,” Caelian said.
The group traveled from the port of Tabuelan town in Cebu and arrived at the port of Escalante City on Tuesday afternoon. They boarded two buses that directly brought them to the patient care center in northern Negros.
The Philippine Coast Guard and the City of Bacolod deployed their respective buses to ferry the 35 passengers.
Caelian said that upon their arrival at the center, the OFWs were asked to undergo a rapid test for COVID-19.
He added that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is also assisting the provincial government in providing for the meals of the repatriated OFWs. (With a report from PNA/PN)
