By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is requesting travelers entering the province to undergo swab tests at the Bacolod-Silay Airport and seaports upon their arrival.

This comes after Lacson said that he has not received information that there will no longer be any extension of the travel moratorium implemented in Western Visayas which will end today.

On April 10, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and National Task Force Against COVID-19 granted the request of Western Visayas officials to extend the travel moratorium from the National Capital Region, provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, and the cities of Cebu and Davao to Western Visayas for one week.

IATF chair, Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, in his letter dated April 11 to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, said the extended travel moratorium will be from April 13 to 19.

The initial travel moratorium for inbound travelers to Western Visayas ended on April 10.

Lorenzana said they granted the request for an extension of travel moratorium for seven days to give more breathing space to local officials in preventing COVID-19 transmission and protect their health care system from being overwhelmed.

The governor said swab tests at the entry points of Negros Occidental will still be voluntary.

Meanwhile, with the expected non-extension of the travel moratorium, Lacson reminded all towns and cities in the province not to approve the S-Pass System of travelers if they refuse to be swabbed or present a negative RT-PCR test result prior to travel.

Pressed if the provincial government can still manage the continuing increase of COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental, Lacson said they will have to manage it.

He added that while the provincial government has funds to manage the pandemic, Lacson said it should not be a reason to be complacent./DGB, WDJ