18 wandering Badjaos displaced by quarantine rescued
HEALTH • 10:00 AM Sat Jun 6, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The rescued Badjaos are now in the custody of the Basilan provincial government. (Contributed photo)
COTABATO CITY --- The Basilan provincial government has provided safe haven to 18 wandering Badjaos it rescued in the Licomo-Zamboanga border last June 4, the office of Gov. Jim Salliman said Saturday.
The 18 Badjaos, among them children displaced by the COVID-19 quarantine, were immediately brought to the provincial government’s medical screening facility in Isabela City in Basilan.
In a statement Saturday, the office of Salliman said the rescued ethnic Badjaos shall be brought to Maluso municipality in Basilan after having been screened according to national coronavirus emergency regulations.
Health officials and personnel of the Basilan provincial disaster risk reduction and management council have examined and quarantined more than a hundred residents who have just returned to the island province after having been stranded outside as a consequence of the nationwide COVID-19 quarantine Malacañang imposed last March.
Local officials in Basilan’s 11 towns and two cities and the office of the provincial governor have together set up 18 COVID-19 isolation facilities in strategic spots in the province in recent weeks.
Basilan, which has small land area and low population, has most number of COVID-19 isolation facilities compared to other provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.