A group of 80 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who traveled from Manila aboard 2GO Group’s St. Leo the Great, arrived at the Bredco port here on Wednesday morning.
The arrivals from the “Malasakit Voyage” included 45 residents of Negros Occidental and 35 others from Bacolod City.
Those from various towns and cities in the province were brought to the Provincial Healing Center in E.B. Magalona town while those from this city were transported to two accommodation facilities serving as quarantine centers.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the 45 residents of Negros Occidental were endorsed to the quarantine center for documentation of their travel history and personal health information.
“They are in E.B. Magalona for ‘processing’ because we would like to get the history of every OFW who arrived today. Once that is done, and if they can show their actual reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, showing negative results, then they can be moved to a hotel,” he added.
Zeaphard Caelian, chief of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division, said three of the 45 initially refused to go to the quarantine facility but eventually agreed.
They reportedly preferred to immediately stay in a hotel despite the strict requirement of the provincial government that they first proceed to the healing center.
Councilor Israel Salanga, chair of Bacolod City Action Team on Returning OFWs, said the 35 Bacolodnon OFWs have already been given accommodations and will undergo another swab test while being quarantined in the next two weeks.
Eighteen of them are being housed in a hotel while the 17 others are staying in a tourist inn.
The provincial and city governments have entered into agreements with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to assign hotels for the accommodations of repatriated OFWs.
Some of the OFWs who have previously returned via the “Malasakit Voyage” have been tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), including five from Negros Occidental and three from Bacolod. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)