A meeting with the staff of the port personnel in Polambato Port was held on November 12, 2020 in the port office in order to discuss about the development of a health declaration tool and data base for sea passengers in Polambato Port.
The meeting was attended by the following port personnel staff, namely, Angie M. Ycot, Genny B. Booc, Marivi M. Cantay, and Junric N. Balais, all port staff, VIlmar R. Banwes, port security, and Santiago Y. Unabia quarantine port staff. The VPHCS team included Dr. Erlinda Posadas, Irish Grace Ramirez, and Crescenciana Labitad.
Dr. Posadas presented the agenda, introducing briefly about the project and that one of its activities is to develop a health declaration tool and database for sea passengers. She inquired about the present protocols and situation existing in the port.
There are passengers from Polambato going to Palompon, Leyte and vice-versa. From Palompon, passengers are already cleared to travel since the shipping company sees to it that they have the necessary travel documents. Upon arrival in Polambato, the port personnel checks on their travel documents again.
Arriving passengers have their temperature checked by port personnel. If there is a passenger who has a temperature equal or above 38 degrees Celcius, he is made to rest, after which his temperature is checked again. If it remains high, the port personnel informs the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office which sends an ambulance to get the passenger and brings him to the temporary treatment and monitoring facility after which the medical staff of the City Health Office takes care of him.
Outgoing passengers also have to have complete travel documents in order to leave Polambato Port. They have to pass through the coast guards with their travel documents. They include a travel authority from the police, a barangay clearance, a medical certificate, and an acceptance from the LGU in Negros.
There is no health declaration tool for inbound and outbound passengers. There are no logbooks of passengers’ names as well.
There is no more checking of the temperature of the arriving crew of cargo vessels since their temperature is already checked every six hours while they are on travel in the sea.
Aside from Palompon which accepts passengers and cargoes, Calbayog City in Samar has cargo vessels that land in Polambato.
There is no logbook for passengers or crew of cargo vessels. The only logbook is that used to log in the temperature of the staff in the port, every time they report for their morning shift and for their evening shift.
There is a health declaration tool only for cargo vessels in the Polambato Port. Its questions are on the total number of crew members, the last port of call, the nationality of the crew, and their health conditions, the number of live animals on board, and the engine and navigational equipment.
