Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that around 4,000 Filipino crew members are expected to arrive in the country in the coming days.
Locsin said the seafarers will return to the country will be back in the next three weeks.
530 seafarers from Costa Fabulosa and Costa Magica will arrive tomorrow. Locsin, however, lamented that no hotels are willing to accept them.
“While DOT has a list of accommodations, the OWWA of DOLE must approve the items in the list,” Locsin said in a tweet.
OWWA, on the other hand, said that they cannot approve the DOT list unless the Health Department approved it.
“The DOH says that the rooms must qualify as individual isolation wards with room service so there is no mingling just in case some are COVID,” Locsin added.
Testing the incoming seafarers was also recommended but Locsin said that a Health Undersecretary refused to do the plan.
“And yet they are not to be given accommodations on the off chance they are COVID. So where do they go? The streets? Yes,” Locsin said.
