Although the beginning of the new year seems to be hard for some, there are silver linings. Here’s one of them. Despite the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines, a piece of good news that a lot of people have been wanting to hear about has arisen. The national government announced on Friday that fully-vaccinated travelers and returning overseas Filipinos no longer need to go through the mandatory facility-based quarantine yet must test negative for Covid-19, and are required to self-monitor for any signs or symptoms.
According to acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, “green”, “yellow”, and “red” Covid-19 risk clarifications for countries, territories, as well as jurisdictions, shall be temporarily suspended.
In line with this, the Philippines would also comply with the following protocols in the arrival of both Filipinos from international countries and foreign nationals of any country, beginning February 1, 2022:
- Fully vaccinated international arriving passengers shall be required to present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure from the country of origin.
- Upon arrival, they shall no longer be required to observe mandatory facility-based quarantine.
- Shall self-monitor for any sign or symptom for 7 days with the first day being the date of arrival and shall be required to report to the local government unit of destination upon the manifestation of symptoms, if any.
In addition, international travelers must present either World Health Organization International Certificates of Vaccination and Prophylaxis, VaxCertPH, or National/State digital certificates from governments that likewise accept VaxCertPH in a reciprocal arrangement, except if authorized by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease.
WHO ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE COUNTRY
Even the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and those whose vaccination status cannot be independently verified can enter the country however they should follow the following protocols; (1) present a negative RT-PCR test result taken within 48 hours before they departed from their country of origin, (2) mandatory facility-based quarantine until the result of their negative RT-PCR test on their 5th day, and (3) home quarantine for 14 days with the date of their arrival being the first day right after mandatory quarantine.
For monitoring, local government units of destination along with their Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams will be the ones to observe the passengers under home quarantine. On the other hand, children ages 12 and above who can’t be vaccinated, will follow the same quarantine protocols as their parents or guardians.
As per acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Nograles, the decisions aforementioned were made based on the Task Force on COVID-19 New Variants’ and the sub-technical working group on data analytics’ recommendations.
Meanwhile, on February 10, 2022, fully-vaccinated nationals of non-visa-required countries under Executive Order 408 (EO 408) will also be allowed to enter the country. In which, travelers must be a passport holder valid for at least 6 months at the time of arrival and have boarding tickets back to their counties or next destination. Along with this, must also provide proof of vaccination same with the other arriving international passengers while under the same testing and quarantine rules for fully vaccinated arriving international passengers.
Children ages 18 and below are free from the full vaccination and proof of vaccination requirements upon boarding.
However, starting February 16, 2022, unvaccinated, and partially vaccinated foreign nationals will no longer be allowed to enter the Philippines but Nograles elucidated that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated Filipinos would still be allowed to enter.
THE PHILIPPINE TOURISM INDUSTRY’S POTENTIAL GROWTH
For quite a long time, the tourism industry in the country has been down due to travel bans and/or restrictions. It has been well-known that the tourism industry in the Philippines provides goods and services that facilitate business where people’s livelihood depends, and having to know that many Filipinos can benefit from this is indeed one of the glad tidings this year.
“Makakabangon na po, makakabangon na po ang tourism industry. At makaka-contribute ito ng malaki sa trabaho, kabuhayan, economic growth ng ating bansa,” were the exact words of the acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.
On top of that, the acting Presidential Spokesperson advised the local government units who are dependent on tourism to encourage their residents to have themselves fully vaccinated.
“Pag fully vaccinated ang tourism workers, ang ating mga empleyado, ang mga workers natin sa facilities, fully-vaccinated ang mga bisita at fully-vaccinated ang mga communities natin, kaya natin labanan itong COVID at kung ano mang variant ito.”
The new rules and regulations are being implemented when the number of new Covid-19 cases in the Philippines falls below 20,000 for the third day in a row, with 18,191 new COVID-19 cases, 74 new fatalities, and 22,014 new recoveries, on Thursday.
