Video screengrab via Mai Bermudez / Twitter " width="100%" />
The head of the task force mandated to send locally stranded individuals (LSIs) back to their home provinces is asking the government to exempt the group from the domestic travel ban, which has been reimposed in Metro Manila following the sudden shift to the modified enhanced community quarantine.
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Presidential Management Staff Assistant Secretary Joseph Encabo, the chief of Hatid Tulong (“Give Help”), told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo today that he is speaking with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the government agency tasked to make high-level decisions for such issues.
“We are asking for an exemption from the IATF so that we could quickly process [their documents] and we can coordinate with LGUs (local government units),” he said.
“If the IATF grants the exemption…we will immediately schedule and facilitate their transportation,” Encabo added.
Some LSIs are temporarily living in homes owned by the National Housing Authority because their provinces have rejected their return. In addition, 20 more LSIs trooped to the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex yesterday to seek assistance from the government. They are staying at shelters owned by the police and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the assistant secretary said.
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Thousands went to the sports complex more than a week ago when rumors spread that the government is offering free transportation to stranded individuals. Critics have pointed out that the situation could accelerate the spread of the coronavirus, after images spread online which showed many LSIs standing and sleeping side-by-side without masks. At least 48 LSIs were found reactive in COVID-19 rapid tests.
Encabo said the 20 new LSIs arrived yesterday because they mistakenly thought that Rizal Memorial Stadium was where they could seek free transportation.
“I explained to them that Rizal Memorial Stadium was just a venue where we send off [the LSIs] and it’s not an office. The transportation assets that we used, they just arrived from their trips and we need to quarantine their crew and drivers [so we cannot send LSIs again]. We need to have preventive measures in our ships,” he said.
“To my fellow Filipinos who are LSIs, please have patience and understanding because first of all, we have limited transportation. We are doing everything that we could so that you could go back home to your province,” he added.
Metro Manila and four other areas have been placed under the modified enhanced community quarantine, which prohibits travel to other provinces. The quarantine is expected to be lifted on Aug. 18.
