By Genalyn Kabiling President Duterte is prepared to pay for the hospital expenses of Filipinos infected with the new coronavirus disease, especially those stranded amid the pandemic. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte updates the nation on the government's efforts in addressing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on May 28, 2020. (ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO/MANILA BULLETIN) The President said he has "no problem" shouldering the hospital cost of ordinary Filipinos, telling local government officials to just send him the hospital bill. "If you are positive, you can stay in the place where the government provide for the hospitalization. I want to make it clear that as much as possible the ordinary citizen, the Filipino, does not have to spend money," he said in his latest televised public address Thursday night (May 28). "If he is sick, he can seek hospitalization and charge everything to government," he added. The President also directed local government officials not to refuse to help people in need. He said they should instead "expedite" the hospitalization of people needing medical assistance in their communities. "If he happens to be in that place, and he cannot move out and maybe he is not welcome to the place, he can stay where he finds himself and this I would like to convey to mayors -- help anyone, not even Filipinos, foreigners who are in your place and who go to you, or who goes to the municipal building, the seat of governance of your municipality to seek help, you should expedite the hospitalization," he said. "Tulungan ninyo ang mga Pilipino, tutal (Help the Filipinos, besides) I will pay, I will pay for the expenses. Walang problema ‘yan (There's no problem with that)," he added. He said the local officials should sign any document and he would readily pay for the hospitalization of "any Filipino who finds himself in strange place and he has nowhere to go." "That's really an order of the national government to the local governments. Help. Do not deny and you must expedite the hospitalization until he is cured. No problem about payment. Just bill me and I will pay," he said. The President made the remarks after ordering the unhampered transit of thousands of Filipino repatriates back to their home provinces. Duterte has asked local officials not to block the return of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the pandemic, saying it is their constitutional right to travel back home. He said they should instead welcome the returning OFWs with "open arms” especially since they have been cleared of the coronavirus.