The province of Bohol has facilitated the return of 955 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and 1,806 locally stranded individuals (LSI) since the province opened its doors to off-island Boholanos in late April.

This was based on the report of assistant provincial health officer Dr. Yul Lopez during an online provincial government presser on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Lopez, 405 of the 955 OFWs have been cleared to go home after undergoing 14 -day facility quarantine and after testing negative in polymerase chain reaction or rapid antibody tests.

Remaining OFWs are still being quarantined in hotels in Panglao while most LSIs are in facilities of their respective local government units.

Lopez said that LSIs in the province were from Cebu, Manila, Leyte and Mindanao.

Of the over 2,000 returning Boholanos, only one so far tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID) 2019.

The OFW who was asymptomatic throughout his infection tested positive in a confirmatory PCR test while in quarantine at a facility in Tagbilaran City in mid-May.

Over a week after testing positive, he was allowed to go home when he was proven to have recovered when he yielded a negative PCR result.  

Concerns have recently been raised against the return of OFWs and LSIs after the provincial government in accordance with a Department of Interior and Local Government directive allowed local government units (LGU) to choose to let their returning Boholanos undergo home quarantine.

The new policy gave LGUs the option to quarantine their LSIs and OFWs either in hotels, government facilities or houses.

Hotel quarantine however will be paid for by the LSIs and OFWs themselves while LGUs will cover the costs if returning Boholanos will stay in a government facility.