PCG: No additional arrivals from China scheduled

Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Negros Occidental are strictly monitoring the unloading operations of a ship at Bacolod City’s Bredco Port. Lt. Commander Jansen Benjamin, who heads PCG-Negros Occidental, said they deployed personnel at the berthing area of M/V Unicorn Bravo, which was previously prohibited from unloading cargo in the city after arriving from Xiamen last month.
The vessel was allowed to dock as of Sunday.
“We are keeping watch 24/7 to ensure their compliance [and] that there will be no disembarkation and embarkation,” Benjamin said.
He also said, as of Monday, there are no additional vessels from China scheduled to arrive at Bacolod City ports.
The unloading activities comes on the heels of Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia issuing Executive Order No. 12, which modified an earlier order that prohibited vessels from China, Hong Kong, and Macau from docking in Bacolod City. The modified order allows for such vessel to dock and indicates: “No embarkation of any crew of subject vessels may be allowed at any time” and “No embarkation or boarding of the subject vessels by any person shall be allowed at any time.”
The modified version was ordered after Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año overruling the original order.
“Upon reading the aforesaid EO, we note that it contradicts the recent issuance of the DOH (Department of Health) Department Circular No. 2020-0034,” the cabinet official said. “It is, therefore, the position of the department that the EO is not in accordance with the DOH circular.”
“You are hereby directed, pursuant to the oversight power of the president as delegated to the undersigned, to ensure that the EO is in accordance with national government issuances,” he added./DGB, WDJ