A total of 307 residents of Negros Occidental, comprised of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), came home from Manila either by air or sea travel since Monday night.
On Tuesday, the latest to arrive were 84 Negrense LSIs, who traveled aboard a Philippine Airlines (PAL) sweeper flight which landed at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City at 2 p.m.
This batch of returning residents passed through the swab-testing booths at the airport’s arrival area where they underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) before they were endorsed to their respective local government units (LGUs).
Earlier, 57 Negrense OFWs were also brought home by another PAL special flight at 12:30 a.m.
On Monday night, some 158 stranded Negrenses and eight OFWs arrived at at the Bredco port in Bacolod City aboard 2GO Group’s St. Leo the Great.
All the other LSIs and OFWs are also being assisted by the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) for Covid-19 to undergo RT-PCR testing before they are sent to their respective cities and municipalities, where they are also required to follow local health protocols.
This week, the provincial government arranged for three sweeper flights with PAL, including the one that arrived on Tuesday afternoon, for Negrenses stranded in Metro Manila.
Passengers are required to secure medical certificates from the local health offices of their place of origin and travel authority from the Philippine National Police.
Charina Magallanes-Tan, spokesperson of PIMT for Covid-19, said the PAL sweeper flights for LSIs are scheduled until Thursday.
Passengers on the special flights are paying for their own fare, she added.
The provincial government organized these trips to ensure that LSIs and returning Negrenses will be given priority in all flights until June 15, after which the Bacolod-Silay Airport will already be opened to commercial flights. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)