By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is currently probing reports that some hotels, pension houses and other accommodation establishments in the city are allegedly being used as quarantine facilities even though they do not have any accreditation from the Department of Health (DOH).

Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of the city’s IATF, said accommodation establishments are not allowed to operate as quarantine facilities for COVID-19 positive individuals unless they secured an accreditation from the DOH.

Familiaran said the report needs to be investigated and validated after reports surfaced that a private establishment was allegedly accepting COVID-19 positive patients.

The vice mayor explained that all COVID-19 positive individuals are being taken by extraction teams which in turn also coordinates with the local barangays and quarantine facilities.

For his part, Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said that all quarantine facilities in the province (excluding Bacolod City) are accredited by the DOH.

However, Diaz pointed out that some establishments are no longer being used due in part to the recent drop in COVID-19 cases, as well as the lack of government medical personnel who will man the said facilities./DGB, WDJ