The flight of a stranded family in Bulacan scheduled to return to Samar province was cancelled after the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) of Region 8 issued an advisory on Saturday afternoon for a temporary suspension of flights due to the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the cities and provinces of the eastern part of Visayas.
Bulacan’s Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) chief Rowena Joson-Tiongson said that the family of eight, are supposed to fly via Cebu Pacific on Sunday courtesy of Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando, but was postponed due to the flight suspension advisory issued by the IATF-EID until July 9, 2020.
On Friday, the governor helped the family to fly back home to Barangay Cabaywa, San Sebastian, Province of Samar who was ventured into the City of San Jose Del Monte for almost two years and considered locally-stranded individuals or LSIs .
Fernando also provided the family free accommodation and livelihood assistance and to ensure their health, each members of the family was tested for coronavirus disease 2019 and the results were all negative.
The head of the family works as a hollow block laborer that was shut off when Bulacan was under Enhanced Community Quarantine and because of no-work-no pay, in three months they were not able to pay their rented apartment and were told to vacate by the owner.
The family sought the help of Fernando for them to go back home in their native land of Samar.
Unfortunately the family will stay until July 19 but no worries for them said Tiongson as Fernando allowed them to stay and offered for them to use the Nipa Hut inside the Official Residence (OR) of the governor as their temporary shelter for next couple of weeks.