Govt studies repatriation of Filipinos
Credit to Author: Catherine S. Valente, TMT| Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2020 16:26:42 +0000
The government is studying the possible repatriation of Filipinos from areas affected by the deadly 2019 novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte would wait for the recommendation of the Department of Health (DoH) and Department of Foreign Affairs.
“Pag-aaralan lahat iyan kasi (It will be studied because) bringing them here might also open to spreading the disease unnecessarily. Pag-aaralan lahat iyan kung ano ang makakabuti (So, we will study it all, what is best for all),” Panelo said during a Palace press briefing.
“I think the Department of Health is managing it quite well. Kung ‘yun ang rekomendasyon ng (But if that’s the recommendation of the) DoH, the President will consider it,” he added.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd on Tuesday said an interagency task force had been created to implement quarantine procedures for those who would be repatriated.
The Health chief added that those who would be repatriated would be confined in a health facility for at least two weeks.
“The preparations are underway to support the quarantine plan that will be implemented once the voluntary returnees formalize their plans to be repatriated,” he said.
“I wish to inform our kababayan (countrymen) that the government will take care of you whether you choose to stay or return home. For those who choose to return, you will be taken care of in a health facility for monitoring and further medical management,” he added.
Duque said the details of the quarantine procedures would be disclosed to returnees.
“We will be arranging one place where we can quarantine all of them, rather than assigning them to different places,” he added. “We have the budget for that so that’s the least of our worries. We will have to spend for all of that, certainly no doubt as part of the quarantine measures, we will have to sustain [the Filipinos] when they are in isolation.”
The interagency task force is composed of officials of the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Local Government, Justice, Labor, Tourism, Transportation, and Information and Communications Technology.
There are about 300 Filipinos in Hubei Province and 150 in Wuhan City, according to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay.
“We are keeping in touch with the [Chinese authorities] for now, because we are planning to repatriate all those Filipinos,” he added.
Dulay said the task force would exhaust all options in bringing Filipinos in Wuhan home.
“There are options on doing it by land or air but, of course, we have to take the lead on the Chinese authorities based on their own rules,” he added.
Panelo admitted that the repatriation of Filipinos from Wuhan would be a challenge because several cities in China have been placed under lockdown.