{"id":259057,"date":"2020-06-23T22:58:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T02:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259057"},"modified":"2020-06-23T22:58:54","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T02:58:54","slug":"govt-prioritizes-sending-ofws-lsis-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/23\/govt-prioritizes-sending-ofws-lsis-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t prioritizes sending OFWs, LSIs home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script async=\"1\" defer=\"1\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v7.0\" nonce=\"Zkna1EXw\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/philippinenavy\/posts\/10157612109732956?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARC7T9gXOIQ57afPVuil6s2mD2bkv1yczrY2bY4V8fmC4E9WESGINwVK9MzuP_11PPEuxAKZ5CwW8xI0UQZ5w8mcprALnlIsKd4ESKLfX0XL7g9DALoT8KhT-YRerdVaRFZ0G6JwMwQQDPc1hJiaiNW4xWQeoF2MnQs2NfKmar4iOlNLvDUoxUsIftrhl6izbsk9lLAYWU86gXyGdQ6dEH_rH0rB07kYezSU9zTNyGxCDY5192aCtGkFohS1McOv3gQp20DHC6DnO7jTgTxtnb7rVS066t-IJsIsOGJqABsTC2xgvH4r7KWQuE-A_0JzND40UetB4SCwQe0SYxyN&amp;__tn__=-R\" data-width=\"750\">\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/philippinenavy\/posts\/10157612109732956\" class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\">\n<p>Navy ferries locally stranded individuals bound for Iloilo, CebuNAVAL STATION JOSE ANDRADA, Manila- The Philippine&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/philippinenavy\/\">Philippine Navy<\/a> on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/philippinenavy\/posts\/10157612109732956\">Sunday, June 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Before deciding on when to allow provincial buses to operate, the government will have to prioritize sending home repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs), Malaca\u00f1ang said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark following calls to allow provincial buses to resume operations with several bus drivers and operators losing a source of income due to the government\u2019s directive to limit public transportation.<\/p>\n<p>Roque said provincial buses will \u201ceventually\u201d be allowed to ply the roads once there are no longer any OFW or LSI stuck in Metro Manila.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually,\u00a0<em>ia<\/em>-allow\u00a0<em>po natin iyan; pero ngayon nga po ang pangunahing problema natin sa mga<\/em>\u00a0stranded individuals,\u00a0<em>sa mga<\/em>\u00a0OFW,\u00a0<em>ayaw tanggapin ng iba\u2019t ibang mga probinsiya<\/em>\u00a0(Eventually, we would allow them; but as of now our main problem are the stranded individuals and OFWs which provinces don\u2019t want to accept),\u201d he said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that allowing provincial buses would cause more harm than good since local governments were already refusing to accept OFWs and LSIs to begin with, especially those who have yet to undergo testing for coronavirus disease (Covid-19).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you imagine\u00a0<em>kapag mayroon na tayong<\/em>\u00a0provincial bus<em>\u00a0kung paano pang\u2026 kung gaano mangyayari, kung gaano po iyong mga<\/em>\u00a0objections\u00a0<em>ng mga<\/em>\u00a0local government units (if had provincial buses\u2026what would happen if local government units have objections on accepting passengers),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said it is best to wait until all OFWs and LSIs have been sent to their respective hometowns before allowing provincial buses on the roads again.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSa tingin ko po, hintayin muna natin mag<\/em>-improve\u00a0<em>ang ating<\/em>\u00a0Covid situation\u00a0<em>nang sa ganoon ay magkaroon din po ng kumpiyansa iyong mga probinsiya na tanggapin ang mga papunta sa kanilang mga<\/em>\u00a0jurisdictions (I think let us wait for the Covid situation to improve so that provinces will also be confident enough to accept them in their respective jurisdictions),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Roque said the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) are closely studying the possibility of allowing provincial buses to resume operations.<\/p>\n<p>He believed that there were no lapses done in the process of sending LSIs back to their respective hometowns amid lawmakers\u2019 calls for the review of the government\u2019s Hatid Probinsya (Hatid Tulong) program.<\/p>\n<p>The problem lies not in lapses in ferrying LSIs back home, but the lack of available polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Around eight million PCR test kits are expected to arrive to augment the existing number of test kits which, he said, would help LGUs be better prepared to accept LSIs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>400 buses from Singson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a public address late Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte bared that Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis &#8220;Chavit&#8221; Singson offered 400 buses to help OFWs and LSIs to their hometowns.<\/p>\n<p>Singson&#8217;s family owns the bus firm Partas Transportation Co. Inc.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNagmamagandang-loob \u2018yung tao<\/em>\u00a0(The person is making a kind gesture). He\u2019s offering 400 buses at the disposal of the Task Force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Duterte announced that bus deployment in Visayas is scheduled on July 4 in Mindanao and July 5 in Visayas.<\/p>\n<p>He also appealed to local officials to accept returning OFWs and LSIs<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAng pakiusap lang<\/em>\u00a0(My appeal is), just like your statement now\u00a0<em>na tanggapin lang \u2018yung mga<\/em>\u00a0LGUs\u00a0<em>ng &#8212; tanggapin nila \u2018yung mga tao, pakiusap<\/em>\u00a0(just accept the LGUs-accept the people, I am asking you),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said local governments that refused OFWs and LSIs would run into \u201ca gamut of so many problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They cannot refuse to accept a Filipino. You cannot do that, deny the Filipino to go home?\u00a0<em>Mahirap \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(That&#8217;s difficult),&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Navy ferries locally stranded individuals bound for Iloilo, CebuNAVAL STATION JOSE ANDRADA, Manila- The Philippine&#8230; Posted by Philippine Navy &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":259058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259059,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259057\/revisions\/259059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}