8,000 LSIs returning to provinces this weekend

A total of 8,408 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) are expected to return to their provinces this weekend as part of the government’s “Hatid Tulong Program,” the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Friday.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said “the government remains committed to ensure that LSIs will be able to go home to their provinces safe and sound.”

About 4,000 LSIs were already sent home to their provinces on July 4 and 5.

Año said the LSIs to be sent home this weekend include the people staying at the Philippine Army Gymnasium, Villamor Air Base Elementary School, Manila Science High School, Ninoy Aquino International Airport and those endorsed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, other government agencies and local government units.

According to Año, the LSIs would board 120 buses, five sea vessels and Philippine National Railways trains.

He said the LSIs would be given food and non-food aid during their travel.

DILG National Barangay Operations Office Director Dennis Villaseñor, however, said that LSIs would not be allowed to return to provinces that still have an existing moratorium on returning residents.