Locally stranded individuals (LSI) planning to go home to Tagbilaran City for the Christmas season may have a hard time securing accommodation at the local government unit’s (LGU) quarantine centers with hundreds of homeward residents and natives of the city already in queue to take up spaces at the facilities.
Tagbilaran City Administrator Cathy Torremocha on Wednesday said that the city only has three quarantine facilities which can accommodate 30 LSIs each for free namely San Isidro, Cogon and Bool Elementary Schools.
“Tulo ra man gud na atong facilities sa LSI unya di pa gyud na mapuno usahay,” said Torremocha.
The official explained that once a batch inside the school has already undergone PCR testing, they will not allow another group to stay in the same facility to avoid contamination.
LSIs tend to go out of their designated rooms, go to other areas of the school and mingle with those from other batches who may or may have not already undergone testing.
“Rason sa atong City Health Office ana is ang uban na swab na, di na g’yud nato atapuan og lain. Kana man gud sila naay tendency na mag laag-laag from one room to the other, so kung naka PCR na ka unya ang uban wa pa, ma-usik ang atong effort,” she added.
Tagbilaran City is the only locality in the province which subjects all of its LSIs to PCR testing before they are allowed to leave the quarantine facility.
According to Torremocha, they are expecting more LSIs to arrive as the holidays draw near with 200 LSIs from Cebu alone already registered to enter the city in the next weeks.
“Mo-daghan pa na, wa pa na sila ka-larga kay naglinya pa na sila,” she said.
Some of the arriving residents of the city are also “not real” LSIs which could mean that they are just going home for a vacation during the holidays and not really “stranded.”
At the onset in the implementation of community quarantine across the country, LSIs were loosely described as students or employees from Bohol who have lost their jobs in urban centers such as Metro Cebu and Metro Manila and other provinces.
Torremocha said the city no longer has any other facility which it can offer for quarantine purposes.
“Di sila maka-uli kung magpafree sila. Wa man g’yud tay mahimo kay mao ra man g’yud na ang atong facility. Wa na tay ikadugang na facility,” she said.
Meanwhile, some pension houses and hotels may be used as quarantine facilities but the LSIs have to pay for their accommodation.
All returning LSIs and overseas Filipino workers are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine at a government facility or a hotel before they are allowed to go home.
The protocol was imposed in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the province. (A. Doydora)