What is one of the best ways to
keep a viral pandemic from spreading? The easy answer is to lock everything
down. That has what the Philippines has been doing ever since the dreaded
COVID-19 infection crossed the sea from Wuhan in China early this year. Come
the middle of March the country became a prison of sorts, all but the most
essential front-line personnel and workers were in their homes. Nobody foreign
got out except in flights back to their nations, nor in at all. But that is going
to change by next month according to a new announcement.
GMA News has it that Malacañang has pegged a set date for when
foreign nationals can once again enter the Philippines as restrictions to
safeguard against the COVID pandemic are even more gradually relaxed. An interview
this Friday, July 17 with Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made known the
conditions agreed upon by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Thursday, July 16,
by which nationals from other countries can once again step on Philippine soil
effective on August 1. First, Roque notes that no new Philippine entry visa for
foreigners will yet be issued. Rather, only those who already have existing and
still-valid long-term visas can enter.
Where before only Filipinos and
their families, plus accredited officials of foreign governments and
international organizations, and the aircrews of foreign airlines, were allowed
entry into the country during the more stringent levels of lockdown, more foreign
nationals with their existing entry visas can come along. But they have to
allow returning Filipinos from overseas the priority in aircraft seating. Finally,
they must also pre-book both a COVID-19 testing provider and a quarantine
facility where they must test for coronavirus and wait out the 14-day
incubation period for possible infection.
Foreign nationals with long-term
visas, as Spokesman Roque explains, tend to be those who consider the Philippines
a place of residency. This is why the IATF and a government-assembled technical
working group immediately began to hash out regulations for their return to the
country if they had been abroad when the COVI-19 lockdowns began. The TWG still
has more work on its plate to gradually increase the number of entering foreign
nationals in the coming days. Already Filipinos have been allowed to engage in
non-essential overseas travel, provided that they have confirmed round-trip
tickets (if travelling on tourist visas) and declarations where they
acknowledge the risks of leaving the country during an ongoing viral outbreak.
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