243 Negrense LSIs arrive home

The Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) of Negros Occidental said yesterday that 243 Negrense locally stranded individuals (LSIs) have arrived home last Sunday, June 20.

PIMT head Dr. Zeaphard Caelian said the newly-arrived Negrenses were onboard three different sea vessels from Metro Manila and Batangas and arrived at the Bredco Port in Bacolod City.

Upon their arrival, Caelian said they immediately checked and processed the LSIs’ S-PaSS documents.

After verifying that their documents are in order, they were immediately turned over to their respective local government units, while the others were shuttled to the provincial government’s isolation facilities.

Caelian said they are currently on alert in the borders in order to prevent the spread of new COVID-19 cases originating from the travelers.

Under the provincial government’s travel protocols, travelers from outside Western Visayas are required to register via the S-PaSS system and download the StaySafe.PH application.

Travelers are also required to present a negative RT-PCR test result at least 72 hours prior to travel.

Although there are no cases of fake travel documents and fake or tampered RT-PCR tests among the LSIs that arrived last Sunday, both the provincial government and the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office have already issued warnings not to present fake documents or tampered results, pointing out that one can be held criminally liable under Republic Act 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Concerns Act, as well as Falsification of Public Documents under the Revised Penal Code./