Catanduanes suspends entry of returning residents due to destroyed quarantine facilities

LEGAZPI CITY –– Residents and overseas workers returning to Catanduanes have been temporarily barred from entering the province due to the lack of resources and quarantine facilities destroyed by Typhoon “Rolly” when it pounded the island on Nov. 1.

The Bicol Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (BIATF) approved over the weekend the request of Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua to a “halt in the repatriation of Locally Stranded Individuals and returning overseas Filipinos,” as the provincial coffers have been “depleted” by the relief operations for thousands of residents displaced by typhoons “Quinta” and “Rolly,” which hit Catanduanes only a week apart.

The areas designated as quarantine facilities for returning residents have also been severely damaged by the typhoons, the governor said.

Lawyer Anthony Nuyda, regional director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Bicol and BIATF chair, said the travel suspension would be for one month beginning on Nov. 7, subject to weekly assessments by the BIATF.

ZB