The recently repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) yesterday appealed to the provincial government of Negros Occidental and city government of Bacolod to provide them with livable and decent quarantine sites that have passed the Department of Health and Bureau of Quarantine standards.
In Bacolod City, about 28 OFWs are housed at the Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School in Brgy. 30 while undergoing a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
In a handwritten letter posted on social media, the returning OFWs said they have been made to take rapid testing in Manila and that they are willing to submit to the required 14-day mandatory quarantine period.
They expect empathy from all agencies involved on their psychological condition due to the stressful ordeal they have experienced since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, they said.
Meanwhile, residents living near the quarantine site expressed fear of being infected due to the proximity of the school to their homes.
Bacolod Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the Quarantine Center Action Team, said the quarantine center is about six meters away from the nearest house. However, they will conduct an ocular inspection to determine if they could make some adjustments.
He said the quarantine center was also inspected by the City Health Office and other concerned agencies.
Novero also appealed to the OFWs to understand their situation if their best effort fell short of their expectations since they were not informed in advance about the return of the OFWs.
He pointed out that the protocol between the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the local government unit (LGU) was not observed.
Before they were sent home, the city government should have been given advanced notice. Then the city would prepare and give a letter of acceptance, Novero said.
They were just informed of their return so they had no choice but to accept the returning OFWs, he said.
Novero said the city is providing the OFWs food when it was understood that it is the OWWA that should do so.
Perhaps, the OFWs were expecting to be provided the same accommodation they had in Manila. But they were informed that it was their employers and the OWWA that housed them in a hotel, he said.
“We have to understand that we are in a crisis situation. It’s actually a state of war although a different kind of war since we cannot see the enemy,” Novero said.
He urged everyone to be willing to be part of the solution, rather than the problem. He also apologized if the city cannot reach the level of contentment of the returning OFWs, which he was informed, was not the original group they were told about, he said.
They could have declined since the city was not ready to receive them. But since they were forced to accept them, they immediately prepared, Novero said.
He also pointed out that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has ordered that the returning Davaoeños be prevented entry to the city.
“But we all have to understand that we are not under normal situation. So our approach would certainly be abnormal. Otherwise, we will be jeopardizing everybody,” Novero said.
They want everybody protected, safe and secure from COVID-19. So everybody will have to adjust and sacrifice, he added.*
BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
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