COMMERCIAL flight passengers who will enter Davao City via land travel from neighboring cities might be required to present a negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said.
This means that if a passenger arrives at the General Santos City Airport and his or her final destination is Davao City, he or she must present at the checkpoint his or her negative RT-PCR test result.
Duterte-Carpio said on Wednesday, July 22, that some commercial flight passengers are trying to sneak into Davao City by going through other airports in Mindanao.
Effective Wednesday, July 22, 2020, arriving passengers at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport (FBIA) must present a negative RT-PCR test result before they can exit the airport.
The mayor said passengers with no RT-PCR results upon arrival at the airport will be put on hold and tested, and will have to wait for their test result. They should expect up to 48 hours of waiting at the holding facility.
Duterte-Carpio said despite the changes in the protocol, some are still trying to "smuggle themselves" into the city.
But the mayor said they had already mounted screening equipment at the city checkpoints to detect commercial flight passengers who travelled by land.
"Naa na sila'y screening tool kung unsaon nila pagdetect sa mga tao [commercial flight passengers] (They already have mounted screening tools to detect people who try) to smuggle themselves without RT-PCR testing," Duterte-Carpio said.
Task Force Davao Commander Colonel Consolito Yecla, meanwhile, urged returning passengers not to make an attempt to sneak into the city as it will only inconvenience them.
Yecla said they will not be allowed to get through the checkpoint without having a negative RT-PCR result.
Duterte-Carpio, meanwhile, said land passengers will be put on hold, and will be escorted to the city's testing center.
"Sunduon na sila padulong sa testing center. Pero kinahanglan pa na sila muhulat. Dili sila [land passengers] ang priority tungod wala sila migikan sa Davao Airport, so mas madugay ilahang return (They will be escorted to the testing center. But they would have to wait longer since they did not enter through Davao Airport. They are not the immediate priority, so expect it would take them time before they will be allowed to return to their residence)," she said.
As of July 22, there are 16 passengers who were put on hold upon reaching the city's checkpoint after discovering they were commercial flight passengers.