MANILA – The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has suspended for 14 days the return of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to Western Visayas. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the suspension order was contained in IATF-EID Resolution No. 69 issued Monday night.
The suspension took effect on Sept. 7 and would last up to Sept. 21.
Some officials in Western Visayas appeared confused, however, like Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero of the Department of Interior and Local Government and Office of Civil Defense Region 6’s Ma. Aletha Nogra, head secretariat of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Is the suspension region-wide or specific only to certain areas in the region?
Nogra replied to Ingeniero: “MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine) po ang Bacolod City. At the same time, meron po sila standing request sa National Interagency Task Force for the moratorium for LSIs until Sept. 30. Of course, kasama din po dyan, Sir, ‘yung official request ng Roxas City na nakapasok po and was represented to the joint interagency task force. So dalawa po ang LGU (local government unit) natin na na-approve ng national na may ongoing moratorium for LSIs – Roxas City and Bacolod City.”
Panay News reached Roque for clarification last night. He reiterated that the suspension was region-wide in scope.
The IATF-EID Resolution No. 69 did not specify any area of the region.
According to Roque, the request for suspension that was received came from the regional interagency task force, thus the national IATF took it to mean the whole Western Visayas.
Similar requests by Lanao del Sur and Iligan City were also approved, said Roque.
Local officials of Western Visayas previously called on returning residents, including overseas Filipino workers, to undergo mandatory quarantine and testing upon arrival to prevent the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Bacolod City and Negros Occidental have seen a spike in COVID-19 infections when LSIs started returning.
On Monday evening, the IATF-EID decided to place Bacolod City under MECQ starting yesterday until at least the end of September.
As of Sept. 8, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 6,382 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas, with 94 deaths. But with 3,251 cases having recovered, the region’s active cases were at 3,037.
Iloilo city and province, Negros Occidental, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Guimaras were earlier placed by the IATF under modified general community quarantine until Sept. 30.
The IATF previously directed local government units to strictly implement minimum public health standards, increase health system capacity, and enforce localized community quarantine to ensure the availability of quarantine facilities in critical areas.
All returning citizens, especially COVID-19 suspects and probable cases, were also advised to undergo immediate facility-based isolation to decrease chances of community transmission./PN
