ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT Subic Bay Freeport is set to benefit from a China-funded railway project linking it to Clark Freeport but about 42 hectares of mangrove forest will be affected if it is implemented under the present construction proposal. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
SAN ANTONIO, Zambales — Residents of this province who are employed in nearby Olongapo City and Subic Bay Freeport are now required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing to go to work on Monday.
In his order, Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. required persons coming from areas considered as high risk in terms of COVID-19 cases to undergo RAT (rapid antigen test) if they will stay for 24 hours and negative RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test if they will stay for 48 hours or more.
Those who deliver essential goods, authorized persons outside residence (APORs), contractors and employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and workers who are going home every day in the province need to show a negative RAT test result valid for a week.
Most of the residents of this province are workers in a nearby city and inside the Subic Bay Freeport.