ILOILO City – The city government plans to temporarily suspend the repatriation of returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and residents stranded elsewhere in the country.
Uncooperative repatriates prompted Mayor Jerry Treñas to request for a travel moratorium for at least two weeks with the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
“We have been recording positive [coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)] cases among our returning residents. It is disappointing that some are not cooperating with our safety health protocols,” lamented Treñas.
In yesterday’s meeting with the city government’s COVID team, Treñas slammed defiant repatriates refusing reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests even if these were free of charge.
“If they don’t want to help us secure the safety of our constituents, we will stop receiving ROFs and LSIs (locally stranded individuals). We will only allow the entry of those willing to take the test after the moratorium,” Treñas stressed.
He added: “I have informed airlines about this decision and sent a letter to the IATF. We will start the moratorium upon IATF’s approval,” said Treñas.
Should the IATF grant the travel ban, Treñas plans to reassess the city’s repatriation protocols, citing the threat of COVID-9’s new strain which scientists said is more transmissible.
“We have been considerate with bringing our residents home but if we relax our protocols, our constituents’ health will be jeopardized,” the mayor further said.
Unlike its neighboring provinces, Iloilo City continued accepting arrivals of repatriates during the holiday season.
Based on the City Health Office’s City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit data, LSIs and ROFs comprise two percent – each having 76 and 88 cases, respectively – of the 4,709 total COVID-19 cases in the city as of Dec. 31, 2020.
Local cases, meantime, comprise about 96 percent or 4,520 of the total cases.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte approved a more relaxed quarantine restriction for the southern city – modified general community quarantine for the entire month of January./PN