By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The number of sugar migrant workers or “sacadas” from Antique province who have tested positive for Covid-19 is now at six following the latest results released by the Negros Occidental Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) on Wednesday night.

Dr. Zeaphard Caelian, PIMT head, said they have now tested 600 sacadas, who are part of the 5,000 laborers who will be working in the sugarcane fields in the province as the new sugar milling season begins.

Caelian said upon their arrival at the Bredco port in Bacolod City, the migrant workers underwent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing and were transported to their quarantine quarters while awaiting their results.

The PIMT head said those who tested positive were immediately transported to the province’s isolation facility in Silay City, while those who were negative were allowed to work.

“We placed them on quarantine and isolated from one another,” Caelian added. “They belong to different quarters, there are some who will be working in Isabela, while others will be working in Kabankalan.

Earlier, four of the 300 sacadas, who were part of the first batch of laborers who arrived in the province last October 9, tested positive for Covid-19.

The sacadas work mostly as cane cutters in the vast sugar plantations in Negros Occidental, the “Sugar Capital” of the Philippines./DGB, WDJ