Capiz-bound LSIs fly home despite not being swab tested

Though they did not take a swab test, several locally stranded individuals (LSIs) bound for Roxas City, Capiz were able to fly home with the help of the provincial government.

According to Raffy Tima's report on "24 Oras," Capiz was one of the few provinces with a coordinated program for its residents who were stranded in Metro Manila.

A team from the provincial government was sent to personally handle the coordination of the stranded passengers, the airline, and the airport.

"Sa record po natin, sir, mga almost 4,000. Itong mga LSIs po natin ito 'yung karamihan nawalan ng trabaho," said Judy Solomon, Balik Capiz Program coordinator.

Though there were five sweeper flights bound for Roxas City, authorities were planning to organize ship voyages due to the large number of LSIs.

"By July 4, priority po natin yung mga hindi ka makapag afford na bumili ng ticket," Solomon said.

Due to the directive issued by the national government that LSIs were not allowed to fly without taking an RT-PCR test, it was unclear whether the scheduled sweeper flights, as well as the ship voyages, would push through.

Airline Cebu Pacific said that it did not receive an advisory from the Inter-Agency Task Force on halting the flights.

Aside from this, two boats going to Bacolod-Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro also left on Friday. Authorities said this would be the last batch of LSIs that would be allowed to go home without taking an RT-PCR test. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News