The City of Bacolod will consider resuming inter-island travel between Iloilo and Bacolod as part of its broader relaxation of travel curbs, now that the whole region is under the same COVID-19 alert level status.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia has previously issued an executive order that banned inter-island travel up to January 15 after Iloilo City was placed under Alert Level 3. But the national Inter-Agency Task Force has officially placed the whole of Western Visayas under Alert Level 3 until the end of the month.
Em Ang, the executive director of Bacolod Emergency Operations Center, said that the city government also endorse the proposal lifting the negative RT-PCR requirement for travelers from Western Visayas and Negros Oriental.
Iloilo City also expressed approval of such a proposal for intrazonal travel, the EOC said.
The EOC acted on the request of the business group to lift the negative RT-PCR requirement since Region 6 and the entire Negros Island are all under Alert Level 3. Instead of the swab test it was proposed that the “no vaccination, no ride” policy will be enforced.
Meanwhile, Vallacar Transit, which operates Ceres buses in Negros said they will also relax their policy and will no longer require a vaccination card for travelers within Negros Occidental. Only travelers from outside the province will now be required to present a vaccination card and a negative swab result.
