BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
The return of stranded Negrenses via Tabuelan, Cebu, remains uncertain after talks with the town’s mayor hit a stalemate, Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said yesterday.
Diaz said Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson had issued a certificate of acceptance for the return of 50 Negrenses, but Tabuelan Mayor Raul Gerona said he would grant their exit from the port of his town if 89 more at his border would also be allowed to return to Negros.
The 89 did not include the 50 the governor had granted certificates of acceptance, Diaz said.
However, when the governor also okayed the return of the additional 89 on Gerona’s list, the mayor again increased the number to 130, Diaz said.
The governor did not agree to that because a calibrated return of locally stranded individuals (LSI) is necessary to ensure that there is enough quarantine space for them, Diaz said.
He said they have already prepared the Cadiz City quarantine facility for the LSIs from Cebu but the pacing of their return needs to be calibrated.
There are also residents of Tabuelan, Cebu, in Escalante City, Negros Occidental, waiting to go home when the vessels that deliver the Negrenses arrive, he said.*
