Tourists stranded in Eastern Visayas sent home

MANILA, Philippines — Eighty-four local tourists stranded in Eastern Visayas due to the community quarantine have been sent home.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) said four buses left the MacArthur Landing Memorial Park in Palo, Leyte on Friday to bring the stranded tourists to Metro Manila, Calabarzon, the Cordilleras, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Bicol.

“We are pleased to extend a helping hand to our domestic tourists who are the backbone of the tourism industry,” DOT regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes said.

Forty-four of the tourists were stranded in Leyte, four in Northern Samar, 11 in Samar and 25 in Southern Leyte. They were picked up in Catbalogan City, Calbayog City and Allen, Northern Samar.

“In coordination with various LGUs, (local government units) we made sure sweeper trip passengers were given instructions and possessed the required medical clearance and other required documents,” the DOT regional office said.

The DOT said it has assisted 35,502 tourists, 26,550 of them foreigners.

Meanwhile, 39 residents of Northern Samar stranded in Cebu returned home on Tuesday.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said their residents spent more than a month in Cebu while processing their travel and health clearances.

PDRRMO chief Rei Josiah Echano said the returning residents arrived at the Manguinoo Port in Calbayog City.

Returning OFWs

In Baguio City, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city government is confident it could handle the anticipated surge of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Magalong said a management system consisting of a containment facility as well as triage and disease management scheme for OFWs and returning Baguio residents has been in place since April.

He said an OFW facility set up at Teachers’ Camp has so far processed 260 returning OFWs.

As this developed, the Pangasinan provincial government picked up 46 of its residents, 42 of them students, who were stranded in Baguio City under the Hatid Estudyante and Balik Probinsya programs.

The provincial government said it complied with the protocols in assisting their stranded provincemates.

The stranded Pangasinenses secured a medical certificate from the city health office and travel authority from the Philippine National Police. Miriam Desacada, Artemio Dumlao, Eva Visperas