PH consulate contacts Filipinos on stricken cruise ship in Oakland

Consul General Henry Bensurto Jr. (standing left in barong Tagalog) at the Port of Oakland where M/V Grand Princess docked Monday noon, to confer with authorities on the condition of ship passengers including the 538 Filipino passengers and crew members. CONTRIBUTED

SAN FRANCISCO — Philippine Consulate officials are now monitoring the situation of Filipinos aboard the M/V Grand Princess cruise ship, which docked in the Port of Oakland Monday, with some 3,500 passengers and crew. The officials are coordinating with authorities concerned to facilitate the repatriation of Filipinos aboard the ship.

The Consulate is in touch through Facebook and email with some Filipinos on the ship who say they are generally well and being taken care of inside the ship.

On hand to witness the ship’s docking was Consul General Henry Bensurto Jr., who also inquired on the status and condition of the Filipinos, both passengers and crew members, onboard.

The ship’s manifest, provided by the cruise ship management, shows there are 538 Filipinos, 529 of whom are crew members while nine are passengers.

It still has yet to indicated by U.S. authorities if there are any Filipinos among the 19 crew members and two passenger who tested positive for Corona virus (COVID-19).

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services assured the Consulate that those who require immediate medical attention will be brought to health facilities.    .

Crew members continue to work in shifts and a few of them are eager to be repatriated soon.

To facilitate repatriation, the Consulate has been coordinating with the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C., the U.S. State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the Grand Princess cruise ship management, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, as well as the cruise ship management.

California State 18th District Assemblymember Rob Bonta reported that all of the priority medical patients were safely taken from the ship to various regional hospitals, including facilities in Alameda County, and as far away as the Sacramento area. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

The Consulate General encourages all Filipinos aboard the ship to keep in touch through the following contact points:

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

They can also call or leave Viber message at this U.S. Cell Number: +1 (415) 269-2090 or access the Consulate-General through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/filipinosonthegrandprincess and also search for “Fils on GPrincess” also on Facebook.

As this developed, California State Assemblymember Rob Bonta whose District 18 covers the cities of Alameda, San Leandro and Oakland, where the cruise ship is docked, reported that all of the priority medical patients were safely taken from the ship and have been brought to various regional hospitals, including facilities in Alameda County, and as far away as the Sacramento area.

“The disembarkation, transportation, and ongoing care of these patients is being conducted with the most updated guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on best practices for isolation, containment, quarantine and separation to avoid any exposure to the general public. 173 U.S. residents were safely disembarked and 149 were taken by bus to Travis Air Force Base in Solano County,” Bonta added. .

Canadian passengers, 234 in all, were taken off the ship and assessed by separate Canadian medical teams. Two patients needed medical treatment at regional hospitals while the remaining passengers have been flown by charter aircraft back home to Canada.

The California Office of Emergency Services is working to ensure that medical patients are treated at a wide distribution of hospitals so no one particular area’s medical infrastructure is overstressed.

“Worker safety and public health will remain top priorities as California and the federal government work together to help people safely exit the ship and directly transfer to quarantine areas outside of Alameda County,” Bonta explained. “And once the passengers are safely taken off the ship, the crew will remain on board and the Grand Princess will depart Oakland so the crew can continue receiving medical care in another location.”

M/V Grand Princess was on a roundtrip cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii but ended up being held off the Northern California coast as authorities searched for a more suitable place for the ship to dock and passengers to disembark.

Passengers and crew members with flu-like symptoms, 45 in all, were also given tests for the coronavirus (COVID-19) after which 19 crew members and two of the passengers were found to have contracted the virus.