THE Department of Education has postponed the conduct of graduation rites from the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels due to the risk of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19).
But Covid-19 has produced new breeds of graduates, referring to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned home amid the pandemic.
But instead of receiving their diplomas, the new Covid-19 new breed of graduates received their respective health certificate, bearing the evidence that they are now free of the suspected Covid-19 infection.
Bacolod City Councilor Israel Salanga, chairman of the Action Team on Returning OFWs, reported that 177 OFWs were residents of Bacolod and were classified as persons under monitoring (PUMs).
They have completed their 14-day mandatory quarantine in various quarantine centers designated by the City Government of Bacolod.
They were sent home over the weekend [June 13-14], after receiving the negative results of their swab tests, Salanga said.
Councilor Salanga handed out the certificates of completion to the "graduates" during a simple send-off program in their respective quarantine centers.
After the ceremony, they were sent home aboard the two city buses and finally were reunited with their families.