COTABATO CITY–At least 260 locally-stranded individuals have been sent home Friday from Maguindanao to the island-province of Basilan via a chartered boat, the Rapid Emergency And Disaster Response-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (READi-BARMM) here said.
Myrna Jocelyn Henry, speaking for READi-BARMM, said the LSIs will be transported from Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao to Basilan through the support of the International Organization for Migration.
“It is expected that they (LSIs) will be arriving Saturday morning at the Lamitan port in Basilan,” Henry said in a phone interview by the Philippine News Agency here.
The returning 260 Basileños form part of the 405 LSIs from Manila who were earlier offloaded in Cagayan de Oro and subsequently transported by BARMM health personnel to the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on July 10.
Henry said all the 405 LSIs underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests at CSH and were subjected to the 14-day mandatory quarantine by BARMM health authorities.
On Wednesday, an initial 50 LSIs were also sent home to Basilan via a Philippine Navy vessel after completion of their repeated swab test and given clearance by doctors.
Henry said the remaining LSIs –75 from Sulu and 20 from Tawi-Tawi– will be sent home on August 2. -PNA
