BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday that, eventually, stranded Negrenses in Cebu will be allowed to return home.
Lacson said he was coordinating with the mayor of Tabuelan, Cebu, who earlier said he was closing his town’s port.
A spokesman of the stranded Negrenses, in a video sent to the DAILY STAR, yesterday said they have been camping out in Tabuelan, Cebu since June 26 and are appealing to the governor and mayors of Negros Occidental to help them return to the province.
They have no work and have run out of money, the spokesperson said, adding that they need to return to Negros Occidental because their families rely on them for their survival.
One flight a day carrying locally stranded individuals from Manila began arriving at the Bacolod Silay Airport starting Monday, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
The moratorium on the travel of LSIs to Western Visayas will be lifted today, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said.
Diaz said, “I don’t think any Local Government Unit is ready enough for the mass return of the LSIs but we will do our best.”
He said arriving LSIs at the Bacolod Silay Airport will be brought to the Silay City Yolanda housing facility for quarantine and testing. Those who test positive will be transferred to the EB Magalona Healing Center and those who test negative will be released, he added.*
