ILOILO CITY—Roxas City in Capiz province begun Monday its two-week timeout from allowing the return of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs)
This, after the Western Visayas Regional Task Force on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) approved the request of Roxas City Mayor Ronnie Dadivas to temporarily stop the return of OFWs and LSIs as it the city was having a hard time finding isolation centers for their mandatory quarantine.
In a resolution, the regional COVID-19 task force said the moratorium will allow the local government unit of Roxas City to prepare the currently fully-occupied facilities and maximize health care services for the next batches of OFWs and LSIs.
The regional task force specifically stated the moratorium only covers OFWs and LSIs who are residents of Roxas City, but not those from other towns of Capiz province. Non-city residents will still be allowed to transit via the city’s seaport and airport.
This was in response to a concern raised earlier by Capiz Gov. Esteban Evan Contreras II, who earlier asked Dadivas to explain why the latter cancelled the return of 53 LSIs, who were coming from Batangas Port. In a show-cause order, Contreras pointed out that not all of the LSIs were residents of Roxas City.