By Marie Tonette Marticio TACLOBAN CITY - Some local chief executives here aired their frustration on the lack of coordination from the inter-agency task force on the Balik Probinsiya Program. Ormoc Mayor Richard Gomez
(Ormoc CIty Government official Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN) Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez slammed the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), National Housing Authority (NHA), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for not following the health protocols for returning residents. Gomez shared that he received a text Monday morning, May 26, from the DILG Regional Office 8 and OWWA, informing them that there were three planes arriving in Tacloban City and telling them to receive the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) without allegedly following COVID protocols. "We have kept our city COVID-free for more than 70 days because of strict border controls and implementation of health protocols. Then here comes a text from the national government agencies telling us that there are repatriates coming in our city and telling us to accept them," the mayor lamented. Last week, Gomez also complained of not being informed by the concerned agencies of four returning residents to Ormoc who were included in the first batch who availed of the Balik Probinsiya Program in Leyte province. However, he clarified that they were very much willing to accept the returning residents, and that they have already prepared an isolation facility for them, "Wala talagang coordination at all. Lahat naman may health protocols. Dapat may testing na may result, hindi 'yung swabbing lang pero walang result," citing that even DILG-8 was not informed of the returning residents who arrived onboard 5 buses last night from Metro Manila. He added that prior to returning to the city, the concerned agencies should have coordinated first to prove that the arriving individuals were really stranded Ormocanons. Alangalang, Leyte Mayor Lovely Yu said that they were only informed of a returning resident on board a plane to Tacloban City an hour before the arrival of the OFWs. "Informing us an hour before the arrival of OFWs, no coordination, no clearance of entry (was) asked from us and now these offices are seeking transportation to pick them up," she said in a Facebook post. The official said that they have been facilitating well and supporting all returning residents but they were hoping that coordination from the concerned agencies would be properly made with the LGUs. In a statement, the DILG-8 said that Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano has assured that the 24,000 OFWs ordered home have already been tested, found negative, and completed the 14-day quarantine requirement. "As in all urgent matters, texting and other electronic means are used by government agencies to deliver advance information. There is a memorandum issued by Undersecretary Epimaco Densing on the matter which has been disseminated as well," DILG-8 said. It stressed that LGUs were mandated to prepare isolation facilities and to accept their returning residents, and may also subject the returning OFWs to further quarantine and/or PCR testing upon arrival.