Lawmakers honor 10-member Wuhan repatriation team

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives paid tribute to members of the government delegation that fetched Filipino workers in Wuhan, China – ground zero of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – last weekend.

In a plenary session last Wednesday, the House unanimously adopted Resolution No. 711 that honored “the heroism, courage and great compassion of the 10-member team that repatriated the OFWs in Wuhan, China.”

Resolution No. 711 was authored by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. It names the members of the repatriation team that brought home the distressed Filipinos last weekend.   

“These brave individuals not only answered the call of duty, but exhibited a strong sense of compassion for our kababayans (countrymen) and nationalism that motivated them to volunteer their services and expertise to undertake this critical mission,” the House leaders said.

“The heroism, courage and empathy of the 10-member team of the Philippine government for fellow Filipinos are truly remarkable, inspiring and worthy of emulation and recognition,” they said.

Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero, who supported the resolution, said members of the Department of Health-Department of Foreign Affairs (DOH-DFA) team “took great risk to their own health and safety – and the health and wellbeing of their families – in undertaking the mission.”

The members of the team from the DOH, as listed in Resolution No. 711, were doctors Neptali Labasan of the Bureau of Quarantine and Oliver Macalinao of the San Lazaro General Hospital, nurses Rowel Divinagracia of the Philippine Heart Center and Jay Julian of the Health Emergency Management Bureau (DOH), and medical technologist Elmer Collong also of the Philippine Heart Center.

The DFA contingent was composed of assistance-to-nationals officers Rowell Casaclang, Abdul Rahman and Richard delos Santos, and Mark Anthony Guegera and Sanny Darren Bejarin of the Philippine consulate in Shanghai.