The city government here has established communication lines with Bacolod residents stranded in other places to assist them in coming home amid the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“We are working overtime to help facilitate your return to Bacolod. Keep safe and stay healthy, in no time you will all be on your way home,” said Councilor Cindy Rojas, chair of the action team for non-overseas Filipino worker (OFW) returning residents.
In a virtual press conference on Tuesday night, Rojas said eight students of the University of the Philippines-Visayas in Miagao, Iloilo were the first batch of returning residents who arrived in the city.
The students, who traveled from Dumangas wharf to Bredco port here on Tuesday afternoon, were housed in Medalla Integrated School in Barangay Pahanocoy for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Rojas said they will undergo a swab test to be conducted by personnel of the City Health Office on the fourth or fifth day after their arrival.
A doctor from Bacolod, who was among the passengers, was brought to South Hills Academy to also undergo quarantine.
Meanwhile, Rojas said she has set up Messenger chat groups with stranded Bacolod residents.
These include some 130 Bacolodnons still in Metro Manila and almost 60 staying in Cebu.
“Our goal is to arrange a chartered flight or boat trip from Manila. We are letting them choose the mode of transportation. We are trying to work it out this week,” the councilor said.
Another group of at least 25 people in Palawan will also travel home via Iloilo City.
Rojas said they are facilitating the permits for them to arrive in Iloilo although they are looking into the possibility of letting the vessel dock directly in Bacolod.
Rojas said her team is preparing the patient care centers in schools in anticipation of the arrival of more non-OFW returning residents.
Aside from Medalla Integrated School, the Education and Training Center School extension campus will also serve as a quarantine facility. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)