The city government here has set up information desks in ports to document the arrival of returning residents coming home via sea travel.
Councilor Cindy Rojas, chair of Action Team on Non-OFW Returning Residents, said on Thursday this will address concerns on the monitoring of a large number of Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) who wanted to go home.
A number of Bacolodnons have been stranded in Panay and other parts of the country due to travel restrictions during the community quarantine amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Through the information desks that will be established at the Bredco and Banago ports, returnees are asked to fill out a health declaration form asking for their personal information, including health and travel history for contact-tracing purposes.
“They will be sent home to undergo home quarantine. We will also inform the barangays about arrivals,” Rojas said.
Lt. Cmdr. Jansen Benjamin, chief of Philippine Coast Guard-Negros Occidental, said their personnel are checking the travel documents of arriving passengers.
LSIs coming from areas within Western Visayas are required to submit travel authority and medical certificate and should undergo home quarantine upon arrival under the monitoring of their respective barangays.
Those coming from areas outside Western Visayas must have travel authority and medical certificate and should undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine in a city government-managed facility and a swab test upon arrival.
Similar requirements are also needed for returnees on air travel.
The city government has set up patient care centers in various schools to accommodate LSIs while repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are brought to hotels, inns, or pension houses, based on the agreement between the city and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
The OFWs are required to present travel authority, quarantine certificate, and negative result of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
They must undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine and a repeat swab test while staying in a patient care center. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)
