LA TRINIDAD -- The Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (PIATF) for Covid-19 in Benguet is requesting the National IATF that the 14-day quarantine period for returning overseas Filipino Workers (ROFWs) in Manila be completed before they are sent home to their respective provinces.
In a resolution, PIATF said ROFWs should undergo and complete the mandatory 14-day facility-based quarantine in any of Department of Health (DOH)-Bureau of Quarantine or Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) approved facility in Metro Manila regardless of the result of the RT-PCR Covid-19 test conducted before they are sent home.
"They should not be allowed to discontinue facility-based stringent quarantine even if they yielded a negative result for health security reasons," the PIATF resolution said.
The resolution added statistical data show that there is an increasing number of returning Benguet OFWs with a declared negative RT-PCR test result in Manila but are tested positive upon arrival in the province.
"This situation presents greater risk to everyone the person gets in contact with and to the community. After verification, these individuals have not also completed the mandatory 14-day facility-based quarantine in Metro Manila," the PIATF added.
The Benguet IATF stated there is an expected influx of returning OFWs to the province, hence the need to strengthen the implementation and compliance of the declared protocols in response to the pandemic.
On July 20, Governor Melchor Diclas reiterated that the province will continue to welcome the ROFWs and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) but must undergo triage at the Benguet Training Center in Wangal, La Trinidad.
Diclas added the municipalities are also preparing quarantine facilities to accommodate returning OFWs and LSIs in other towns.