{"id":260332,"date":"2020-07-03T03:44:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T07:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=260332"},"modified":"2020-07-03T03:45:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T07:45:41","slug":"lgus-told-to-accept-returning-lsis-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/03\/lgus-told-to-accept-returning-lsis-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"LGUs told to accept returning LSIs this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jonathan<\/a>
During a Laging Handa briefing on Friday, DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said a total of 4,000 LSIs will be sent off under the “Hatid Tulong” program for LSIs bound for some areas in Mindanao and Luzon from July 4 to 5. (File Photo<\/a>: PTV\/Website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday urged local government units (LGUs) to accept returning locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to their respective localities this weekend.<\/p>\n

During a Laging Handa briefing on Friday, DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said a total of 4,000 LSIs will be sent off under the “Hatid Tulong” program for LSIs bound for some areas in Mindanao and Luzon from July 4 to 5.<\/p>\n

Malaya made the statement in wake of several LGUs’ apprehensions in taking in the LSIs, claiming that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases have soared since their arrival.<\/p>\n

“Inuulit po namin ‘yung panawagan ng ating<\/em>\u00a0Pangulo (Rodrigo Duterte)\u00a0na ito pong mga<\/em>\u00a0locally stranded individuals\u00a0ay may karapatan din pong umuwi. Nakikiusap po kami sa mga<\/em>\u00a0LGUs\u00a0na makipagtulungan sa<\/em>\u00a0(We reiterate the call of the President. These LSIs also have the right to return home. We ask the LGUs to cooperate with the) DILG,” he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the DILG continuously gets in touch with the concerned LGUs regarding the arrival of the LSIs for them to make the necessary preparations.<\/p>\n

To allay their fears, Malaya said the LSIs have medical certificates and have undergone rapid testing for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

He added that LGUs are free to implement their own health protocols on arriving LSIs.<\/p>\n

“At kung gugustuhin po ng mga<\/em>\u00a0LGUs\u00a0na mag<\/em>-conduct\u00a0sila ng<\/em>\u00a0PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test,\u00a0pwede rin po nilang gawin ‘yun<\/em>\u00a0(If the LGUs want to conduct a PCR test, they can do that). They can also put them in quarantine for them to be sure that all arriving LSIs will not be a cause of Covid-19 transmission,” he said.<\/p>\n

LSIs bound for Mindanao and Luzon would be sent off on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.<\/p>\n

The LSIs will be escorted by the PNP-Highway Patrol Group to ensure their safe travel onboard the 100 buses lent by Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis \u201cChavit\u2019\u2019 Singson.<\/p>\n

He noted that three ships, a Philippine National Railways (PNR) train and a C-130 government plane will also be used to bring home the LSIs.<\/p>\n

Currently, 177 LSIs are now at the Villamor Airbase Elementary School while 754 are inside the Philippine Army Gym.<\/p>\n

Swab tests will not be required for LSIs prior to travel since the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has not yet approved the inclusion of LSIs in mandatory swabbing.<\/p>\n

“Antayin na lang po nila<\/em>\u00a0‘yung pagli-<\/em>lift\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0suspension\u00a0ng pagpapauwi sa<\/em>\u00a0LSIs (Let’s just wait for the lifting of the suspension on the travel of the LSIs),” Malaya said.<\/p>\n

LSIs bound for provinces in Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas, as well as Cebu Island, Mactan, and Caraga Region are not included in the program after the IATF-EID earlier approved a moratorium on the return of LSIs in these areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday urged local government units (LGUs) to accept returning …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":238609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-christopher-lloyd-caliwan","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260332","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=260332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260336,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260332\/revisions\/260336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}