By Jinky Tabor
VIRAC, Catanduanes – The provincial government here does not think it can accommodate the 34 laborers from this province, who are currently on quarantine in a Tabaco, Albay school, because it may lack the facilities to subject them to another round of isolation when they arrive here.
In a letter sent to the Bicol Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Catanduanes Acting Governor Shirley Abundo said the provincial government was still trying to reconsider guidelines which were previously adopted to govern stranded passengers being allowed to travel back to the province.
Abundo, chairman of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), said they were considering not allowing the travel of the 34 laborers from Tabaco port to Catanduanes because her province was not ready for the procedures and facilities needed for their arrival and subsequent quarantine.
The Catanduanes PDRRMC has already recommended that the laborers undergo another 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Catanduanes after 14 days of isolation at the Tabaco National High School where they are now staying.
But the PDRRMC later realized that there would be no quarantine site in Catanduanes that could accommodate the laborers.
Worse, the PDRRMC noted that once word got around that the 34 laborers would be allowed to travel to Catanduanes, many provincemates who are similarly placed could come in droves to join them for the ferry trip from Tabaco.