Garcia, Duque dialogue reset

CEBU, Philippines — The scheduled meeting on Monday between Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Health Secretary Francisco Duque together with a team of medical experts from the Inter-Agency Task Force and the members of the Provincial Board has been postponed due to an important meeting the cabinet official needs to attend with President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a letter to Garcia, Duque asked to move the schedule on Tuesday, June 29, which the governor acceded.

“As the chairperson of the IATF-EID with its select members, we will be attending a meeting arranged by the Office of the President on the same day of June 28, 2021," Duque’s letter reads.

"The select IATF-EID and the DOH members, World Health Organization representatives and Medical/Technical Experts would be more willing to assist the Provincial Government of Cebu and continue the dialogue by rescheduling the meeting to Tuesday, June 29, 2021," it added.

The Cebu Provincial Board has scheduled a special session at 2 p.m. on Tuesday for the purpose.

Garcia said she hopes that the dialogue with Duque and the IATF medical experts would finally resolve the controversy arising from the local protocols Cebu has promulgated concerning arrivals of overseas Filipino workers and returning overseas Filipinos.

"Again, I hope that this meeting will help us reach a common ground to find a win-win solution on the health protocols being implemented in the Province of Cebu," read Garcia’s reply to Duque.

The IATF called out Cebu for its swab-upon-arrival policy and shorter quarantine period at the hotel. The national task force against COVID-19 wanted arriving Filipinos from abroad to undergo quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival at the airport with a COVID-19 swab test to be conducted on the 7th day from arrival.

The Cebu protocol, on the other hand, required OFWs and ROFs to undergo a swab test upon arrival at the MCIA and to go on hotel quarantine for a period of only two to three days if they are tested negative for COVID-19.

Garcia has already obliged with the IATF quarantine protocols after President Rodrigo Duterte appealed for Cebu to follow the national policy. The swabbing upon arrival, however, remains. FPL (FREEMAN)