First batch of 439 stranded passengers in Cebu arrives in Negros Or.

At the Samboan Port with Dr. Liland Estacion, IATF-ICS Commander checking the medical certificate of the returning stranded passengers in Cebu. | Contributed photo

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — The first batch of the 438 stranded passengers in Cebu from Negros Oriental have finally arrived around 2 p.m., April 18, 2020 at the Tampi Port in Amlan, Negros Oriental on board a barge of the Maayo Shipping.

Dr. Liland Estacion, commander of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Incident Command System (IATF-EID-ICS), told CDN Digital in an interview that the 221 returning residents who included children were each given a medical certificate from health authorities in Cebu after they completed the 14-day quarantine.

The passengers were fetched by a barge of the Maayo Shipping for free.

At the Samboan Port with Dr. Liland Estacion, IATF-ICS Commander checking the medical certificate of the returning residents.

Upon arrival at the Tampi Port in Amlan the residents were not allowed to disembark. Instead, the respective buses from the different local government units (LGU’s) went to the barge where the returning residents were waiting and directly boarded and left immediately for their hometowns.

“Amo gi check one by one ilang certification. Naa pay last trip,” Estacion said.

(We checked one by one their certification. There is also a last trip.)

Buses pick up the passengers inside the barge that will bring them to their hometowns in Negros Oriental. | Contributed photo

Estacion was at the Bato Port to personally check the medical certificate of the passengers from the province.

Estacion reiterated that the returning residents would be brought directly to a designated quarantine facility in their respective hometowns and would be placed for another 14-day quarantine./dbs