MCIA obeys Cebu province

MCIA obeys Cebu province. (File photo)
MCIA obeys Cebu province. (File photo)

THE Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Lapu-Lapu City is still implementing Executive Order (EO) 17 in which the swab testing-upon-arrival policy of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is stipulated, as the arrivals of Cebu-bound international flights resumed on Sunday, June 6, 2021.

International flights have resumed landing at the MCIA after the national government ended the eight-day diversion of inbound flights for the airport to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which was seen as a rebuke of Garcia’s testing and quarantine policy that differs from that of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The cap for arriving international passengers at MCIA is still at 300 per day in line with the availability of Cebu’s hotel rooms for quarantine. MCIA is operated by GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), airport subsidiary of Megawide Construction Corp.

However, officials of the Department of Health (DOH) central office said while discussions on Cebu’s testing and quarantine proposal are still ongoing, the IATF’s policy of testing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) on the seventh day from arrival remains in effect.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a virtual presser on Monday, said only the swab test conducted on the seventh day from the arrival of an OFW or ROF is currently paid for or subsidized by the government.

As for their swabbing on arrival at the Cebu airport, however, it is also free. According to an April 4 report by SunStar Cebu, the DOH in Central Visayas, with the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav) and Project Balik Buhay (PBB), started the free swab testing of ROFs and OFWs on March 31 to “unburden” the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration of such bills.

Following Capitol

Central office’s stance

DOH 7’s viewpoint

(ANV, JKV, RDR / SunStar Philippines)

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