- MITCH M. LIPA
Fast craft operators and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry are asking the Bacolod City government to provide assistance, like food, to workers affected by the suspension of port operations in the city.
MBCCI president Frank Carbon, who is also the financial consultant of Weesam Express, said more than a hundred employees of three fast craft operators and land-based workers, like porters, have been affected since the start of the trip suspension first week of August.
The classification of Iloilo City has been downgraded from Enhanced Community Quarantine to Modified ECQ starting August 16, but Bacolod City will remain under the General Community Quarantine with Heightened Restrictions.
Emergency Operations Center executive director Em Ang said this means that the guidelines under an executive order issued by Mayor Evelio Leonardia for a GCQ-HR restriction will remain, including the policy requiring travelers from Panay Island to present negative RT-PCR results before they can travel to Bacolod City.
Carbon said that while Iloilo now allows travelers from Negros to present only vaccination cards, they cannot resume fast-craft operations since they do not have enough passengers from Iloilo City because of the requirement of a negative RT-PCR, which costs a passenger more than P2,000.
The EOC said the stricter requirement had made it difficult for the usual traveller, particularly APORs, but Ang said the policy also contributed a lot in bringing down the COVID cases in Bacolod in the past 15 days.
Ang said there were only 13 new infections noted, as of August 14, one of the lowest in a single-day cases for a long time. – MML
