THE Office of the Executive Secretary has issued a memorandum extending the rerouting of international flights bound for Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) until 11:59 p.m. of June 12, 2021 to ensure that IATF arrival protocols will be “fully and seamlessly” implemented in Cebu.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said they expect the arrival protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to be implemented in Cebu beginning June 13.
“Inaasahan po natin na on the 13th of June (We expect that on the 13th of June), the IATF protocols on arriving OFWs and ROFs will be implemented in Cebu,” Roque said.
The new OES memorandum is deemed to be Malacañang’s response to the insistence of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to enforce “innovative” arrival protocols that deviate from those set by the IATF.
President Rodrigo Duterte had asked the Department of Health (DOH) to critique Cebu’s arrival protocols, following a meeting with Garcia and other Cebu officials on May 31.
On June 4, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they were standing firm in enforcing the IATF protocols in all regions.
In his press conference Tuesday, June 8, Roque said the OES memorandum was issued on June 5, just before a previous memorandum diverting the flights from May 29 to June 5 lapsed, and after the DOH submitted its recommendation.
Roque’s announcement, however, came late as international flights returned to the MCIA on June 6. Airport officials enforced Cebu’s testing and quarantine policies outlined in Garcia’s Executive Order No. 17 and Provincial Ordinance No. 2021-04, which strengthens EO 17.
Quoting the OES memorandum, Roque said the diversion of flights was extended to “ensure that, upon resumption of international flights to the MCIA, the travel and testing protocols approved by the IATF will be fully and seamlessly implemented.”
Under IATF protocols in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, arriving travelers except those fully vaccinated in the Philippines are required to undergo facility-based quarantine for 10 days.
They will be swabbed and tested for the coronavirus on the seventh day. Even with a negative result, they must still complete 10 days in facility-based quarantine.
After their release from quarantine, they will have to undergo four more days of home quarantine to complete the 14-day quarantine, which is equivalent to the known incubation period for Covid-19.
Those who had been fully vaccinated in the Philippines will undergo facility-based quarantine only for seven days. A swab test will be conducted only if the traveler manifests Covid-19 symptoms. Otherwise, the traveler is released from quarantine after seven days and is urged to self-monitor.
Under EO 17 and Provincial Ordinance 2021-04, however, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) are swabbed upon arrival at the MCIA.
They will stay in a quarantine hotel only until the swab test results are released. If negative, they may go home and no other requirements will be imposed on them.
A memorandum issued by Garcia on May 20, which Capitol released on June 5, specifies that OFWs and ROFs will be swabbed twice, upon arrival and on the seventh day.
If their swab test upon arrival yields a negative result, they will be allowed to proceed to their destinations and undergo home quarantine to complete the 14-day quarantine. They will be swabbed and tested for the virus on the seventh day by their LGU.
This memorandum amended Garcia's May 13 memorandum, which specified the arrival protocols for transiting OFWs and ROFs, and reiterated the testing and quarantine policies under EO 17 and Provincial Ordinance 2021-04.
The DOH has clarified that only the Day 7 swab test would be paid for by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, which takes care of all the testing and quarantine expenses of OFWs.
For non-OFWs who are PhilHealth members, only the swab test on Day 7 would be subsidized by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)