GOVERNOR Eugenio Jose Lacson urges towns and cities in the province to prepare their own quarantine facilities to accommodate the influx of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Lacson said this is in case the provincial government cannot accommodate the returning residents.

At present, the provincial government has 283 available rooms, he said.

“We are still getting in touch with hotel owners and the feedback is positive. They are willing to open their hotels for the returning OFWs,” he added.

Earlier, Dr. Zeaphard Caelian, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Program, said the Provincial Healing Center in EB Magalona town and Mambukal Resort in Murcia were already full.

Lacson said 129 Negrenses arrived in the province via 2Go Malasakit voyage on Monday and were brought to the quarantine facilities of the provincial government in EB Magalona town and in Cadiz City.

Two sweeper flights of the Philippine Airlines also arrived Monday night at 6:30 p.m. with 91 OFWs and at 11 p.m. another 26 OFWs arrived from the second sweeper.

On Tuesday, some 157 Negrenses including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Manila arrived at Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City.

Of the number, 134 are from Bacolod City while the remaining 23 are from various localities in Negros Occidental.

Local officials are scrambling to look for accommodations for the repatriated Negrenses on the heels of the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to government agencies a one-week deadline for the return of the repatriates, numbering to 24,000.

The governor quoted the president as saying that “I am ordering you to open your gates to allow OFWs to enter. Sequestration should dove-tail the national policy. You are not allowed to unitarily declare the ingress and egress of people. If you don’t want to do it ask permission from the national Inter-Agency Task Force. It involves many issues. In the name of humanity and constitutional rights. Do not impede the movement of people. You are under duress to be sued criminally.”

Lacson said the provincial government is organizing mercy flights for stranded Negrenses who are not OFWs.

“No need of an acceptance letter from the province. But they still have to register with the provincial incidence management team so that flights can be arranged,” he pointed out.

Lacson lamented that there was no coordination between the national and the provincial governments regarding the return of the OFWs last night.

“I just want to make it clear with IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force), we are not impending the return of these OFWs. We just want to make sure that when they come here, there is enough facility to accommodate them,” he said.

He said, “there is no coordination and everybody was surprised.”

He added that they just have to implement what the president wanted, and everybody was caught unaware, “but we’re doing our best to accommodate these OFWs.” (TDE)