Caballo Island, Fort Magsaysay eyed as quarantine sites for repatriated Filipinos from China

February 2, 2020

The government is eyeing Caballo Island and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija as possible quarantine sites for the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who will be repatriated from China amid the spread of novel coronavirus.

"The Department of Health (DOH) is looking at the naval station at Caballo Island and the Ft. Magsaysay Drug Drug Rehab Center in Nueva Ecija as possible quarantine area for returning OFWs from Wuhan," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Saturday morning.

"Officials of the DOH visited the Caballo Island yesterday and will visit Ft. Magsaysay today," he added.

Caballo Island which is located at the mounth of Manila Bay was also used as quarantine site for Filipino peacekeepers who returned in the country because of Ebola virus in Liberia in 2014.

Lorenzana earlier said that the government is planning to transport the Filipinos from China through a chartered flight going to Philippines.

"We will plane them in on a chartered flight. That’s the plan," he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reportedly said that the first batch of Filipino's from China will be repartriated this week.

There are around 300 Filipinos in Hubei province, including the 150 in capital city Wuhan, the epicenter of nCoV. Robina Asido/DMS