BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
More than 300 migratory workers from Antique arrived in Negros Occidental yesterday bringing the total arrivals to about 500 this month, Zeaphard Gerhart Caelian, Provincial Disaster Management Program Division chief, said yesterday
They were all swabbed for COVID-19 tests and are quarantined in quarters at the sugar farms where they will work, until the results are out, Caelian said.
They will only be allowed to start work when they test negative, he said.
About 5,000 migratory workers, also known as “sacadas”, who work mostly as cane cutters, are expected to arrive in Negros Occidental as the harvest season in the sugar industry begins.
The 5,000 are expected from Antique and Negros Oriental, Ceaelian said.
They are arriving by batches so we will not be overwhelmed in the conduct of the RT-PCR tests, he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Interior and Local Government in Western Visayas has lifted the week-long suspension on the arrival of Locally Stranded Individuals to Negros Occidental and Iloilo City starting today.*
