Barangays in this province were urged to establish their own quarantine facilities to help municipal governments accommodate returning residents.

Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao made the call through the 18 Liga ng mga Barangay presidents on Tuesday, hoping that all chairmen of their 590 villages will continue to assist the provincial government by establishing local isolation facilities.

“It would still take time (before) we could have the vaccine against Covid-19 and that we still have locally stranded individuals (LSIs) coming home from other places. So it would be best that there will be barangay isolation facilities for them,” she said during their meeting held at the Binirayan gymnasium here.

The barangay isolation facilities will serve as quarantine areas for LSIs and overseas Filipino workers for 14 days.

Currently, all isolation facilities of the province’s 18 towns are owned by the Department of Education (DepEd). LGUs are only allowed the use of schools as isolation facilities until July 15.

In preparation, other towns have converted their municipal gym or municipal-owned buildings as isolation centers.

The town of Laua-an will make use of the unoccupied housing project of the National Housing Authority (NHA) as an isolation center.

The barangay isolation facilities will cater to their LSIs and OFWs who could no longer be accommodated at the municipal government’s isolation facilities.

Deo Cortejo, who represented the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Antique provincial office during the meeting, said the role of barangay captains is not only to establish isolation facilities but to manage it with the help of their Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT).

“The BHERT will have to monitor twice every day the body temperature of the person under quarantine,” he said, adding that early detection of Covid-19 signs and symptoms is important.

Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) information officer Irene Dulduco, in a follow-up interview on Wednesday, said Antique has 553 repatriated OFWs; 1,134 LSIs from Manila, and 868 sugar migrants from Negros Occidental.

Dulduco said that 1,407 of these returning residents are under quarantine while 615 are in school isolation facilities.

As of Tuesday, Antique has 18 Covid-19 recoveries, two active cases, and no death. (PNA)