Maribojoc town mayor Romulo Manuta says his town government is observing all strict precautionary measures regarding locally stranded individuals (SLIs) who are allowed to go direct into home quarantine as soon as they arrive in their town.
The mayor clears the air on allegations that the town has allowed locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to directly go into home quarantine, an issue which has raised alarm among some Boholanos.
The mayor understands where some people are coming from in relation to their concern in his move to allow LSIs to undergo home quarantine.
Manuta gave an explanation about the allegations that his move is putting the lives of the people in danger. He did the explanation during a radio interview over “Newsmakers ug Uban Pa” on Monday, June 22, 2020.
It can be recalled that Gov. Arthur Yap gave the mayors the discretion to allow home quarantine for the arriving SLIs.
Manuta said that while the town government allows home quarantine for LSIs, proper precautionary measures are being observed to secure health safety among the people.
Moreover, the mayor said, he is limiting the number LSIs to go on home quarantine. The SLIs who are allowed to go on home quarantine are those whose families have extra houses built after the killer quake in 2013.
The mayor emphasized that not all returning SLIs are allowed to go on home quarantine to enable better management of them by the town and barangay officials.
RUNNING OUT OF SPACE
Manuta said the idea to allow home quarantine came about because the town is quickly running out of space for LSIs in the quarantine facilities managed by the LGU.
The mayor revealed that the local government unit (LGU) has two central quarantine facilities with a capacity of 60 beds.
This is on top of the quarantine facilities scattered among the barangays of the town, Manuta bared in the interview.
As the quarantine facilities of the town are almost filled to capacity, the LGU started to consider allowing the LSIs to go into home quarantine.
The mayor said one of the two quarantine facilities of the town is already filled to capacity, while the other one is about to be filled up.
He revealed that the quarantine facilities in the town can only accommodate 20 LSIs but the town expects the arrival of more than 30 LSIs soon.
PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES
He said that the Municipal Health Office inspected the houses that will be used for home quarantine to determine whether or not these houses are fit to host the LSIs.
After the MHO saw that there are some housing units fit to host the LSIs that will undergo home quarantine, Maribojoc’s Covid Task Force decided to use the eligible houses to solve the looming accommodation shortage, the mayor said in the interview.
The barangay officials are tasked to closely monitor those who will be placed in home quarantine with the cooperation of the LSIs’ relatives, as part of the precautionary measures.
Manuta said that he also talked to the relatives of the LSIs to be serious in the conduct of home quarantine because if something goes wrong, they are the ones who will be greatly affected.
UNOCCUPIED HOMES
Manuta said most of the LSIs who are under home quarantine are placed in unoccupied houses in the town..
He said that there are some unoccupied houses in the town, as some Maribojoc residents were given housing units following the 2013 earthquake.
“Human sa linog daghang mga pamilya nga nakadawat ug mga hinabang na housing units,” Manuta bared.
The mayor said there were more than 1,600 housing units given to some Maribojoc residents where they stayed temporarily while their original houses, damaged by the earthquake, were being repaired.
It was mentioned in a meeting of the town’s Covid task force that there are several families In the town owning donated houses, which are near their original houses. As a result, some families in Maribojoc own two (2) houses, the mayor said in the interview.
Furthermore, Manuta said, the donated houses are ideal places to host LSIs who may go into home quarantine.