This Week in Bacolod (June 21 to 28, 2020)

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Lacson signed Executive Order (EO) 20-26, extending the period of MGCQ in the province until June 30, 2020. The EO also mentioned important guidelines for the entry of locally stranded individuals (LSI) from Cebu, Metro Manila, and Iloilo [1]:

• LSIs from Cebu shall enter the province at the government port in Escalante City only. They should also undergo the mandatory government quarantine in Cadiz and the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test.

• The capacity of the isolation facility in Cadiz City will determine the number of LSI returnees in the province.

• LSIs from Metro Manila and Iloilo are required to pass through thermal scanners upon arrival and submit themselves for RT-PCR testing.

Sea travel from Bacolod to Iloilo and vice versa will not resume until some restrictions set by each LGU are lifted. Weesam Express owner Frank Carbon stated that the permits from Maritime Industry Authority are already secured but operations cannot resume since they will lose income if the concerned LGUs will only allow LSI and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to travel. Carbon plans to see EOs issued by the LGUs first, even though the company is already prepared for the resumption of Fastcraft operations [2].

In an official statement released online, SM City Bacolod opposed the circulating information online that there was a confirmed COVID-19 case from its employees and tenants. To address the issue and to create a safe and healthy environment for everyone, the mall has also conducted a voluntary COVID-19 antibody rapid testing for all employees and agency frontliners outside the mall premises. The mall also reminded the public to accept information from the Department of Health (DOH) or the LGU only [3].

Bacolod Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. expressed that this is unfair and highly disadvantageous to homeowners during the pandemic. Gamboa also requested CENECO to use the actual meter reading when billing consumers, and if any “over-billing” occurs, CENECO is legally bound to return the amount in the next billing period [4].

To test thousands of travelers arriving in the province, the provincial government set protocols at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital (TLJPH) Molecular Laboratory in Silay City. Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said that they are in the process of finalizing the protocols while training more medical technicians, conditioning the machines, and reaching the demands to test all the repatriates arriving. The hospital only has 12,000 test kits that must be used wisely, added Diaz. He also mentioned that these tests are for free and whoever says the opposite is spreading false information [5].

About 5,000 temporary foreign workers are being held back until Mexico has more clarity on why two people died from COVID-19. The two men were employed by different farms in Ontario, which suffers ongoing outbreaks. Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho also mentioned that his government needs assurances that the situation will be tackled well before sending temporary workers to Canada. He also said that the pause is intended to be temporary [6].

Go to Yoorekka for more COVID-19 updates in Bacolod.