Central Visayas IATF wants to send home people stranded in Cebu City
CEBU CITY—THE Regional Inter-agency Task Force in Central Visayas (RIATF-7) has recommended that the locally stranded individuals (LSIS) who have been stuck in Cebu for months should be excluded from the travel ban imposed in Cebu City.
“The RIATF-7 saw the need to allow outbound LSIS in Cebu City to go home as they have been stranded for some time in the city and have therefore run out of resources to support their daily living,” read the RIATF-7 resolution addressed to the national Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
To ensure that these LSIS won’t be carriers of the virus when they return to their hometowns, they will be subjected to local health protocols imposed by the receiving local government units, such as going through the mandatory 14day quarantine and swab testing, the regional task force said.
Authorized travelers
Last June 19, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año suspended the entry and exit of LSIS in Cebu City following a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city.
Director Leocadio Trovela of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas and head of the RIATF-7, asked the affected LSIS to wait for the action of the national IATF on the request.
Although Cebu City’s status was downgraded from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to the slightly relaxed modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) on July 16, the interisland travel of passenger vessels remains prohibited.
Cebu City spokesperson Rey Gealon said only authorized government officials and employees, health and emergency workers, law enforcement personnel and force multipliers, trucks and vehicles transporting all types of cargoes, and those authorized by the mayor are allowed to travel to other islands from Cebu City.
Travel authority
Based on the number of applications for travel authority, about 16,000 LSIS have been stranded in Cebu City since travel restrictions were imposed on March 28.
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the IATF Emergency Operations Center, said the applications were forwarded to the Cebu City Police Office, which was tasked to release the travel authority.
Cebu City residents stranded in other areas, he said, would receive free tickets from shipping firms once they were allowed to return home.
Cash assistance
Individuals stranded in the city, on the other hand, may receive up to P5,000 under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Garganera said the outbound LSIS needed to secure a certification from the barangay where they were currently staying, a valid identification card, a city health department certification, and a travel pass issued by the Philippine National Police.
The requirements will be presented to the DSWD for assessment before the financial assistance will be released to outbound LSIS, he said.