162 OFWs arrive in Cebu from Manila

A TOTAL of 93 Cebuano overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded in Manila after the lockdown arrived in Cebu City via sea travel on Thursday night, May 28, 2020.

The workers are part of a group of 162 OFWs who left Manila for Cebu at around 10:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 27, on board 2Go Shipping’s mv St. Francis Xavier.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Erick Salcedo, Philippine Coast Guard District Central Visayas (PCGDCV) spokesperson, said of the 162 OFWs, 69 were set to proceed to Cagayan de Oro City upon the vessel’s arrival at Pier 6 in Cebu City.

Salcedo said a batch of 100 stranded OFWs are also expected to arrive in Cebu City on Friday, May 29, via mv St. Michael the Archangel of 2Go Shipping which left Manila at 4:30 p.m., Thursday.

It is estimated to arrive in Cebu at 4 p.m., Friday.

Of the 100 passengers on board, 18 are bound for Cebu, 10 for Dumaguete City, 49 for Ozamiz City, five for Iligan City, and 18 for Zamboanga City.

On May 27, the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government to remind local government units about their responsibility to allow OFWs with negative RT-PCR test results to return to their homes and undergo home quarantine.

RT-PCR tests, or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests, are conducted using nose and throat swab samples to detect the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.

Last May 23, two 2Go vessels ferried a total of 475 stranded OFWs to Cebu City from Manila.

On May 21, the Philippine Coast Guard announced that 14,669 OFWs in various quarantine centers were issued a quarantine clearance after they tested negative for the novel coronavirus and completed the mandatory 14-day facility-based quarantine.

Several stranded OFWs initially complained that they had been in quarantine for more than the required 14 days because the results of their RT-PCR tests had not been released. (WBS)