GOVERNOR Eugenio Jose Lacson said Monday, April 27, that Negros Occidental will accept 88 seafarers that are set to arrive in the province this week.
The 88 is composed of two batches with 116 other seafarers who are from Bacolod City.
Lacson said the overseas Filipino workers will be allowed to return into the province provided they undergo the Rapid Test Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test and that the province will be provided with the list of arriving OFWs.
The province, as Lacson said, has just learned about the arrival of the seafarers through chat of the seafarers and that the Maritime Industry Authority and the National Inter-Agency Task Force have not informed them about the arrival.
Lacson emphasized that cooperation is very important because it is the way to control and that the province need to prepare the center for the arriving OFWs.
Zeaphard Caelian, head of the Risk Reduction Management Office, said they will prepare the transportation plan for the arriving OFWs. They need to follow the provincial protocol for the protection of the Negrenses, he said.
Meanwhile, the liquor ban will still be enforced in Negros Occidental even if its status will be downgraded to general community quarantine effective May 1, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said Monday.
"During the general community quarantine [that will start on May 1], what is clear is that only essential work and getting of essential goods are allowed," Diaz said.
He said people are discouraged from drinking liquor.
Diaz admitted that those who drink inside their houses will be hard to monitor.