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Saturday, May 10, 2003
Gov't hits ban on Pinoy workers, travel to RP
MANILA -- President Arroyo's government branded as unfair the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the country as having a medium term pattern in local transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), said presidential chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao.
He said the issuance of advisories against travel to the Philippines by Japan and Singapore because of the WHO classification is also uncalled for.
Fears were also raised Friday over the job security of hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers abroad after Taiwan and three Middle Eastern countries abruptly imposed travel bans due to fears of the Sars virus.
Taiwan stopped issuing visas to Filipino workers starting Friday and instructed its carriers to bar Filipino passengers from their flights, the foreign department said.
It said Kuwait, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates have also barred the entry of overseas workers from the Philippines, following the example last month of Libya. Tripoli has ignored Manila's request to have the ban lifted.
"This would certainly affect the deployment practices and figures. At the very least, it would add another level of requirement on the part of the overseas Filipino workers right after undergoing a thorough medical examination," Foreign Undersecretary Jose Brillantes said.
He noted that there are more than 100,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan. Some 135,000 are based in the Emirates, 60,000 in Kuwait and 12,000 others in Lebanon.
Seven million Filipinos send an officially estimated eight billion dollars a year to their relatives in the Philippines, which now has 10 reported cases of Sars, including two deaths.
Negligible risk
At Manila airport Friday, 75 Filipinos were prevented from boarding a China Airlines flight to Taiwan while seven other Filipinos were not allowed into an EVA Airways jet, said immigration bureau supervisor Ferdie Sampol.
Brillantes criticized Taipei for failing to provide advance warning to Manila. "It should have been announced with a little time to spare to give everybody a chance to prepare for it," he said.
Taipei suspended visa releases for the May 9-12 period, after which the government will assess the situation.
Brillantes urged the labor department to take steps "to clearly explain to the receiving countries that our workers have already gone through these preparatory measures (against Sars)" to avoid disruptions on their overseas deployment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday the Philippines presents a "negligible" Sars risk to travelers and did not deserve to be included in travel advisories.
"There are no known cases of Sars in the community," WHO country representative Jean-Marc Olive said in a statement.
"The 10 cases that have been reported have all been isolated in hospital. Health authorities know the full chain of transmission linked to one imported case and are confident they have identified and isolated all the contacts."
Olive added: "At this point, it is unrealistic for any country to impose a travel ban on the Philippines, or to impose restrictions on travelers from the Philippines. As long as visitors take the normal precautions that they do in their home country, they will have no problems."
Sars-resistant
Tiglao agreed, saying that if there is any other country in Southeast Asia that has proven to be Sars-resistant, it is the Philippines.
He urged the WHO to take this into consideration, noting that aside from a Pangasinan resident who got the disease from his daughter, who worked as a nursing assistant in Toronto, Canada, there has been no other local transmission.
"The number of cases is going down," Tiglao claimed.
He said the Philippines is also appealing to Japan and Singapore and the WHO to consider the commitment shown by the country in the campaign against Sars.
Arroyo also reiterated the country's commitment to fighting the disease, adding that the "effectiveness of our effort against Sars is proven and unrelenting."
She again asked the public to remain calm but fully alert and to review and "religiously observe" the preventive measures issued by the Department of Health.
She also directed the Departments of Health (DOH) and Education (DepEd) to conduct consultations with the private education sector, the teachers' groups and the parent-teachers organizations to discuss the possibility or the need to move the opening of classes to a later date.
"Any decision on this issue shall be guided, first, by the health and safety of our millions of students; and, second, feasibility and practicality. I would like our health and education authorities to undertake quick consultations...so that we can have a clear view of the field of issues and concerns, and the options we can take. All stakeholders will be involved in this decision," she stressed.
Several lawmakers have proposed to move the opening of classes from June to July or September following the Sars scare. With AFP
(May 10, 2003 issue)
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