THE Balik Probinsya program is not calling off its scheduled full rollout next week despite the discovery of COVID-19 infection among beneficiaries during mandatory testing by the host local government units (LGUs).
National Housing Authority (NHA) general manager and program executive director Marcelino P. Escalada Jr. said the rollout set on June 11, 2020 will push through as he claimed that receiving LGUs are not worried about the potential risk that there might be novel corona virus carriers among the busloads of people coming in from Metro Manila.
He said the destination provinces are Leyte, Samar, Negros Occidental, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Camarines Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, and Lanao del Norte.
Escalada said concerns about the danger of spreading the corona virus infection through the relocation of big numbers of people in the middle of a pandemic is “debatable.”
He also struck down suggestions that the relocation should be suspended while the hazard of spreading COVID-19 is present.
“Because this is a pandemic, the virus is everywhere. We tell the governors and mayors:
‘Instead of us complaining about this, why don’t you just prepare?’ Whether we like it or not, we could no longer help them here in Metro Manila. They have no jobs, no homes, they are going hungry. This is now a question of human dignity,” the program official said.
Escalada pointed out that the top five provinces listed as the preferred destination of Balik Probinsya applicants are all in the Visayas belonging to what he called the “Typhoon Yolanda corridor.” On the other hand, he said the chosen provinces in Mindanao have been hit by insurgency and armed conflict.
“These are the people who were driven out by the natural and man-made calamity and proceeded to Metro Manila. But because of this ongoing pandemic, we are seeing a reverse migration,” he pointed out.
The NHA head said the readiness of the host LGU remains a primary consideration particularly their capacity to test and treat their constituents.
He claimed the LGU leaders from the Visayas have assured him that they are not worried about receiving the relocating families from Metro Manila.
“Mayors of Leyte said the least of their worry is Balik Probinsya because the program is organized, systematized. There is one dispatch area in Metro Manila and one disembarkation point and therefore, once (the passengers) arrive they can be tested right away,” Escalada said.
Of the 112 individuals in the first batch of Balik Probinsya that arrived in Palo, Leyte last May 20, two tested positive for corona virus.
But Escalada insisted the results did not come as a surprise, even if all of them underwent the mandatory quarantine period and even tested negative for the virus.
“That is just an expected result. When you conduct tests, you cannot expect the results would always be negative. What is important is the local government capacity to treat them,” he said.
