NVizcaya seeks arrest of illegal LSI transporters

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya: Gov. Carlos Padilla has expressed concern over unregistered car owners and operators who allegedly were illegally transporting undocumented locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to the province.

With this, he ordered the Philippine National Police ( PNP) office here to form a task force that would apprehend these illegal transporters who might be delivering individuals that were not checked for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Their activities pose a clear and present danger to the health security and wellness among residents of Nueva Vizcaya and other provinces of the region,” he said during a meeting with the Provincial Covid-19 Task Force here.

Padilla bared that he also suspected a syndicate who, in exchange for a large amount of money, is behind the entry of vehicles and who take advantage of LSIs, who are undocumented but wanted to come home to the province.

“By stopping this illegal activity, I am sure that 90 percent of our problem in preventing the local transmission of the coronavirus disease in our province will be solved,” he said.

The governor said he also believed that, with strict operations of a task force, arresting the culprit would also benefit other provinces of Region 2 since Nueva Vizcaya is the gateway to the region’s other provinces of Quirino, Isabela, Cagayan and Batanes.

He stressed that the task force led by the PNP must include the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the PNP’s Highway Patrol Group, among other agencies.

Meanwhile, Dr. Edwin Galapon, Provincial Integrated Health Office chief, said the province of Nueva Vizcaya had nine active Covid-19 cases as of August 4, of these, six were from the town of Aritao, two from Dupax del Norte and one from Alfonso Castañeda.

He noted that the six cases from Barangay Kirang in Aritao town were exposed to an undocumented LSI.

Galapon said the Covid patients in the province are under 14-day quarantine protocol at the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital in Bambang town, Region 2 Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong town and a local government quarantine facility in Alfonso Castañeda.