Dauis mayor and League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Bohol chapter president Marietta Sumaylo clears herself from the issues surrounding the sweeper flights that have been bringing the returning locally stranded individuals (LSI) and overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to Bohol.
Sumaylo gave her explanation on the issue in a radio interview on Oct. 6, 2020 over dyTR’s Open Forum hosted by Ardy Batoy and Dave Albarado.
She said that her group just facilitated the securing of documents for the returning LSI and OFW when these Boholanos are allowed to return to the province.
Moreover, she denied getting any commission from the fare charged to returning Boholanos who took the sweeper flights.
Sumaylo added that she has no connections with the travel agency that arranged sweeper flights. The only link between her and the travel agency is the fact the owner of the agency is from her town.
Right now, she has disengaged from facilitating the return of the LSIs and OFWs.
She added that there are already focal persons in the different local government units (LGU) handling the return of OFW and LSI.
The sweeper flights have attracted some controversy due to the expensive fare charged to the passengers. This issue has been acknowledged by Gov. Arthur Yap in his letter to the top honchos of the three (3) airlines operating in Bohol—Air Asia Philippines, Cebu Pacific, and Philippine Airlines.
Last week, the governor wrote to the top officials of the said airlines to ask them to resume commercial flights.
In the same interview, Sumaylo said that she suggested to the governor to ask the airlines to restart the commercial flights in Bohol.