- MITCH M. LIPA
Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrado Diaz, proposed that the Bacolod City government subsidizes the RT-PCR testing of inbound travelers with Bacolod as the LGU of destination, instead of pushing for a negative Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).
Diaz was reacting to reports that Bacolod wants to also lift the requirement of negative RT-PCR for inbound travelers from outside Western Visayas and Negros Oriental, and is seeking a meeting with Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson to harmonize travel policies.
Diaz said his office has not received yet an official copy of the letter of Mayor Evelio Leonardia to Lacson on the matter, dated Jan. 22. But he stressed that instead of setting aside the RT-PCR requirement due to high cost and delays in the release of results, which led to rebooking and additional expenses, the swab upon arrival at the Bacolod-Silay Airport can be done, and the city could subsidize the cost for Bacolodnon passengers.
He said he does not agree to the RAT result from the point of origin, since there is no official document that testifies that a passenger from Manila is nonreactive to RAT.
If the passenger is subjected to free RAT or RT-PCR upon arrival at the Bacolod-Silay Airport, local laboratories can release the results within 24 hours, Diaz said, adding that this would be a better measure.
He said the province is proposing that the city should bankroll half of the expense for RAT or RT-PCR of a Bacolod-bound passenger.
Diaz said other local government units are doing a similar measure of contributing to the expense of testing their arriving constituents, to ensure that they are not infected with the coronavirus disease 2019.
Diaz also said the province has nothing to do with the travel policy being implemented at the Bredco port since it is under the jurisdiction of Bacolod.
But he said there is a high chance that the virus from other provinces can spread in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, considering that there are COVID carriers, who are asymptomatic.
He is also asking the public to refrain from unnecessary travel at this time, since the local spike of cases continues and the isolation facilities are starting to get full.
But Diaz said he expects a downgrade of the alert status next month, considering a downtrend of COVID cases, especially in the National Capitol Region. | MML
