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Protocol in place for repatriation of OFWs to Iloilo

By Perla Lena

May 5, 2020, 8:55 pm

<p><strong>PROTOCOL IN PLACE.</strong> Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas says on Tuesday (May 5, 2020) a protocol is in place to facilitate the repatriation of stranded OFWs back to Iloilo. In a media interview, he said there was never a time when he prevented the return of OFWs to Iloilo.<em> (Photo by Arnold Almacen/City Mayor’s Office)</em></p>

PROTOCOL IN PLACE. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas says on Tuesday (May 5, 2020) a protocol is in place to facilitate the repatriation of stranded OFWs back to Iloilo. In a media interview, he said there was never a time when he prevented the return of OFWs to Iloilo. (Photo by Arnold Almacen/City Mayor’s Office)

ILOILO CITY – Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said Tuesday a protocol is in place as the basis for the repatriation of stranded Ilonggo overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

 President Rodrigo Duterte, in his televised public address on Monday night, called on the city’s local chief executive to follow the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for the return of OFWs.

In a media interview, Treñas said there is an agreement with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that OFWs have to undergo the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test before they are allowed to travel to Iloilo.

“There was never an occasion that we prevented them,” he said as he cited the transport of OFWs from Cebu and Manila who were allowed to disembark in Iloilo in the past weeks.

A total of 47 Ilonggos arrived in Iloilo on April 9 from Cebu and 175 from Manila on April 29.

Two of the 47 Ilonggos were found positive of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) while eight of the 175 OFWs from Manila were confirmed infected by the disease after they were subjected to the RT PCR test.

 The results of the specimens that were taken from other OFWs have yet to be released by the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) sub-national laboratory.

 Treñas said in the case of OFWs staying in a hotel in the metropolis, the city government had to intervene because they have no food and water in the hotel where they were being billeted to undergo the 14-day quarantine.

“Since yesterday, Regional Director (Jose Roberto) Nuñez and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration have been coordinating with us,” he said, adding that they even discussed the hotel where the future arriving OFWs would be staying.

Treñas added that all coordination would be through the Office of Civil Defense, whose regional director is the chairperson of the Western Visayas Inter-Agency Task Force for Covid-19. (PNA)

 

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