By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday said they won’t budge to the moves of the city government of Bacolod, stating that they will still require Bacolod City-bound travelers to have an S-PaSS registration when passing through the Bacolod-Silay Airport.
However, after receiving word that the city government had again resumed processing S-PaSS registrations, Lacson said he will put the issue to rest.
He pointed out even the airline companies are appreciating the use of the S-PaSS as they would no longer validate or authenticate the vaccine card and certificates or the traveler’s RT-PCR test result.
“The [airline companies] are appreciating that, it is easier for them,” Lacson said.
He further pointed out they are doing service to the airlines for requiring the S-PaSS registration.
“What is important is that the provincial government recognizes that our status has gone down to Alert Level 2, both the city and the province, and because of that the provincial government has allowed an increase in flights from the previous six flights a week to 21 flights a week,” Lacson said.
He further added the province is very much willing to take responsibility for approving the S-PaSS registration for Bacolod City-bound passengers.
Lacson also said they will only remove the S-PaSS requirement once the World Health Organization will make the declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Earlier on Monday, both officials from the provincial government and the city government engaged in verbal spat after Bacolod City lifted the S-PaSS requirement for city-bound passengers at the Bacolod-Silay Airport.
The capitol immediately questioned the legality of the city’s executive order, as under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) resolution, if travelers are expected to commute among the local government units (LGUs), they cannot disregard the protocols of such LGUs they are passing through.
This means that even if a traveler is bound for Bacolod, those arriving via the Bacolod-Silay Airport are still required to submit their documents via the S-PaSS system, as the airport is situated in Silay City and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the provincial government./DGB, WDJ