ILOILO City – The chief implementer of the National Action Plan on coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., apologized to local chief executives of Region 6 for not coordinating with them properly in the return last week of hundreds of overseas workers stranded in Metro Manila.
Galvez visited this city yesterday morning and conferred with local government officials and Western Visayas’ task force on COVID-19 at Casa Real de Iloilo.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte issued the order on the night of May 24, Sunday, and the following morning concerned national government agencies started processing the return of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) struck in Metro Manila due to the community quarantine.
“Talagang pasensya na po. ‘Yung coordination hindi po natin nabigyan…Ako humihingi ng paumanhin,” said Galvez.
He also apologized that some repatriated overseas workers turned out positive for COVID-19.
“My fault na talagang nagkaroon…overwhelming ‘yung OFWs. Tumatanggap po kami ng 20,000 repatriates a week. Na-overwhelm kami,” said Galvez.
He acknowledged that there was no thorough checking of the stranded overseas workers being flown or shipped to the provinces if they were indeed tested in Metro Manila and negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Galvez, however, assured Region 6 officials this won’t happen again. For one, the national government has now limited the number of OFWs returning to the country – only around a thousand each day.
This, according to Galvez, ensures that the repatriates would indeed be tested for COVID-19 and that the laboratories of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and Philippine Red Cross in Metro Manila won’t be overwhelmed.
Galvez said he also created a subtask group to focus on the return of stranded OFWs to their respective provinces.
The subtask group is led by Transportation secretary Arthur Tugade and Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III.
Since March, 43,000 OFWs have returned to the country, said Galvez, and of these, 1,200 tested positive for COVID-19.
In Western Visayas, out of its 115 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 36 were overseas workers (Aklan, two; Antique, four; Guimaras, three; Iloilo province, five; Negros Occidental, seven; Bacolod City, four; and Iloilo City, 11).
According to Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., local government units (LGUs) could have given repatriated workers a better welcome and accommodation had the national government agencies that facilitated “sweeper flights” of Ilonggo overseas workers coordinated well with local authorities.
The LGUs were clueless as to the number of returning overseas workers in sweeper flights. There was no breakdown given by the central offices of the Department of Interior and Local Government and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration which mainly facilitated the sweeper flights.
Mayor Rosario Mediatrix Fernandez of San Enrique, Iloilo and also the president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines – Iloilo Chapter, echoed Defensor’s sentiments. LGUs should have been informed in advance so they could prepare well and keep everyone in their areas safe, she stressed.
After conferring with Region 6 leaders yesterday, Galvez turned over 2,000 personal protective equipment and 200 test kits to the Department of Health Region 6. These would be distributed to various LGUs and government hospitals.
“Ang 200 test kits ay makapag-test ng 10,000 ka tao,” said Galvez.
He also pledged an additional 2,500 rapid test kits per province in Region 6 for use on returning overseas workers and locally stranded individuals.
Then Galvez inspected The Medical City in Molo district here, Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district, QualiMed also in Mandurriao; West Visayas State University Medical Center in Jaro district; and Metro Iloilo Hospital & Medical Center also in Jaro./PN