CLARK FREEPORT -- Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan has asked President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque to consider another place or facility as coronavirus isolation area for Filipinos who are scheduled to arrive in Clark.
The request came after the Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday, February 6, that Filipinos returning from nCoV-hit Hubei province in China will be quarantined at the Athletes' Village inside the New Clark City (NCC), which was used during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
The mayor, who is in Germany right now, lamented that the DOH failed to coordinate the decision to declare NCC, which is situated in Capas, as quarantine area.
"While it is true that I, as a Filipino, am in favor of the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Hubei, China, I feel perturbed by the fact that the DOH did not at all, in any way, involve the Capas local government unit in its last minute decision for New Clark City in Capas to be used as quarantine zone for these persons under monitoring (PUMs)," Catacutan said in a social media post.
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) announced earlier that the Athletes' Village will be used as temporary shelter of OFWs who will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
"We acknowledge that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority has full jurisdiction over NCC but I, as mayor of Capas, appeal in behalf of all Capasenos to our dear President Rodrigo Duterte and DOH Secretary Francisco Duque to consider another place or facility as isolation are," Catacutan said.
Duque on Thursday, February 6, thanked the BCDA for offering New Clark City as quarantine site of the OFWs.
But officials and residents of Capas town expressed opposition to the designation of New Clark City as quarantine area.
The Capas Municipal Council held an emergency session on Friday, February 7, in order to pass a resolution opposing the government's decision.
The council described it as "sudden and uncoordinated move of the Department of Health to use the Athletes' Village at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac as quarantine facility for the Filipino workers being repatriated from the epicenter of the 2019 deadly novel coronavirus in Hubei province, China."
Forty-five Filipinos from Hubei, China are reportedly scheduled to arrive in Clark airport and be transported to New Clark City on Sunday, February 9. The OFWs will be quarantined inside the facility for two weeks.