BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returning in Negros Occidental should cooperate with local authorities, Interior secretary Eduardo Año said.
Año instructed Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson to call the police if OFWs refuse to comply with protocols.
“Ask the assistance of the police if necessary to compel cooperation given that some of them came from high risk countries,” Año said during a teleconference of Western Visayas officials.
Lacson, for his part, said he hopes the situation would not reach to that point.
On Friday, another batch of newly-arrived OFWs refused to be brought to the Provincial Healing Center in E.B. Magalona. .
Lacson said that of the 93 OFWs who arrived in the province Friday, only seven boarded the bus to be brought to E.B. Magalona, while the others remained at the airport.
He said they will be transferred to a hotel within the day.
“Maybe the first batch told them it’s okay to sleep in the airport and it’s comfortable,” he said. “Initially the flight was cancelled last night, but then it was pushed through.”
“They arrived at 3:30 a.m. on very short notice, and there was no hotel available,” he said.
Negros Occidental has enough rooms to accommodate the influx of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs),” Lacson assured.
“I also would like to stress that it is not a question of opening a hotel for these OFWs. We have to make sure that health personnel and security are in place. One nurse is not enough. We should have enough personnel to handle this,” he said./PN
