The Inter-Agency Task Force and the Cebu Provincial Government maintain the status quo for protocols for returning overseas Filipino workers in the province.
This means that the IATF’s rule of 10-day hotel quarantine and four-day home quarantine for returning Filipinos will be the standing policy in Cebu.
In a special meeting with the IATF on Tuesday, Cebu Provincial Governor Gwen Garcia insisted that a three-day hotel quarantine must be allowed for an OFW who tested negative for the virus.
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Garcia suggested that the OFW can continue the rest of his or her quarantine at home if they got negative results.
She also appealed if the provincial policy can be applied to returning Cebuanos.
“That is our request…allow us to take this responsibility into our hands for we cannot govern with what ifs. We cannot possibly hope to achieve the welfare of our constituents when it is based on a model,” Garcia said.
She said that this could be a compromise but the task force rejected the offer.
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“While we laud the interventions and the initiatives of the Cebu officials, I also beg of you not to put our guards down, not to be complacent, and not to think that we have been successful in defeating COVID-19,” Cabinet Secretary Karlos Nograles said.
Duque promised to study Garcia’s proposal.
“Ang sinabi naman ni governor is to consider their request to have a separate for Cebuanos, from those who aren’t Cebuanos. This has to be deliberated upon by the IATF,” Duque said. (TDT)
