CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — Mayor Anamel Olegario of Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay urged residents on Saturday to keep calm despite the unease they might feel with 39 travelers from Cebu quarantined at the provincial hospital site in Barangay Tenan.
In a statement, Ipil Mayor Anamel Olegario said that driven by a humanitarian sense, she had taken steps to accommodate the basic needs of the 39 travelers from Cebu while on quarantine, including ensuring their safety.
Olegario also clarified that there were actually 39 persons, not 37 as earlier reported.
The Zamboanga Sibugay provincial government arranged for their homecoming through requests made by Gov. Wilter Palma to Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Zamboanga del Norte Gov. Roberto Uy.
The travelers arrived on a boat in Dipolog City on Thursday morning. They were fetched by three vehicles at the port.
However, they were held in Titay town, at the border of Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Norte as personnel at the quarantine control checkpoint refused them entry.
They were only able to enter on Friday but were brought directly to the identified quarantine area, upon the intervention of the provincial government.
The homecoming of the 39 caused a stir in the province as Cebu City, where they came from, had seen a surge in infections of the new coronavirus disease.
Five of the 39 live in Barrio Luz, the epicenter of COVID-19 infection in Cebu City.
On Friday afternoon, Tenan residents expressed concern about them being exposed to the risk of COVID-19 infection if the 39 persons would be allowed to stay in their village.
Some of them trooped to the quarantine site but were stopped by police.
On Saturday, Olegario thanked the Barangay Tenan officials for allowing the 39 persons, after a lengthy dialogue, to stay at the designated quarantine site.
Olegario said that upon thorough discussion with people in the provincial government, provincial health office, doctors, and other Zamboanga Sibugay mayors, it was decided to quarantine the 39 travelers, along with the three drivers together, in one site.
That way, it would be easy to do contact tracing should any of them develop symptoms of COVID-19.
Olegario noted that all 39 came from Cebu and traveled together to Dipolog and on to Ipil.
/atm