One traveler saw his flight back to Manila cancelled three times, suitcases in hand and his 21-month old half Pinoy baby in his arms. Lay-over hotel bookings had to be cancelled last minute, hundreds of dollars down the drain. Another was given the runaround by the Philippine Embassy in his country because the staff did not know about the government’s changing travel rules.
Tales of horror, heartbreak, and seemingly gothic nightmares just keep on coming as readers shared with me their experiences after I wrote about the chaos of flying in and out of Manila in my column last Monday.
They are mostly foreigners with Philippine visas who desperately want to return to their families in Manila, but can’t travel to the country just yet because of government-imposed travel bans.
These restrictions, of course, are meant to contain COVID-19 especially with so many variants now spreading across the globe. Every responsible government should be doing it.
But the restrictions and the process to secure entry exemption requirements are confusing, tedious, and costly. This should not be the case.
Fractured families
“There are thousands of children now living in the Philippines either without a mother or father, as the parents cannot meet the barbaric and draconian entry requirements of the government. Some have been separated for more than two years now,” one reader from the US lamented.
“I will tell you a story of family separation. My 21-month old daughter and I have been separated from her mother, my wife, for eight months now. My daughter has missed out on much needed love and interaction with her mother, and her mother is broken hearted in the Philippines,” another reader from the US said.
Why is this happening?
“Because the Philippine government has decided that families being together is not a priority if one of the members is a foreigner. My daughter is a Filipino citizen. As you know, Filipino citizens are allowed entry, but being 21 months old, she cannot travel alone to her mother. The restrictions placed on foreign parents are preventing me from bringing her to her mother. So, we cannot live as a family,” the reader said.
Entry exemption document
Technically, it’s not a hard travel ban. Some visa holders must simply obtain an exemption letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs to enter the Philippines.
However, there’s nothing simple about the process. The exemption document is virtually impossible to obtain because of bureaucratic cobwebs in embassies and government agencies.
When the restrictions were first imposed, the reader applied for a visa as the spouse of a Filipino national.
Unfortunately, the rules changed before his flight, only to change again before his next flight. It was only during his third attempt that the Philippine Consulate informed him of the need to secure an entry exemption document.
Strangely, the Philippine Consulate said they did not know the process for that document.
The stress of this nightmare has been incredibly high, he said.
“At this point I have lost several thousands of dollars because of hotel cancellations which happened late and, therefore, could no longer be refunded,” he said.
At the core of the issue is the Philippines’ Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRVisa). SRRVisa holders need to get an entry exemption document if they want to enter Manila, but the process is tedious.
Applications sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs have gone unanswered, they said.
The travel restrictions have separated retiree-members of the Philippine Retirement Authority from their loved ones in the Philippines.
I write about these stories to tell the hardships that these uncoordinated restrictions have caused.
There are many more sad stories and I continue to get letters from abroad lamenting the situation.
While there is a need to manage the COVID-19 situation here, authorities must make sure their policies and directives are communicated well, coordinated, and science-based so as not to worsen the situation for anyone.
Latest travel ban
The IATF, for instance, extended on Tuesday the travel ban on inbound travel from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates until June 15.
However, a quick look at Philippine embassy websites shows nothing about this latest IATF decision when directives such as this should be communicated in real time.
Stranded overseas Filipino workers or Philippine visa holders may have already booked their flights.
Clearly, there is a better way to avoid the spread of the virus without causing people their hard earned money and unnecessary flight bookings. Individual situations must be considered. If they will be barred from entering the Philippines, then so be it, but rules should be communicated in real time and should not change just when they are about to board their flights. If they will be allowed to enter eventually, let’s not make it tedious for them.
Post-entry quarantine measures and contact-tracing must also be strictly enforced.
Airlines must also do their part by making sure there is proper coordination with the government and their passengers.
The world is still in panic mode, but running around like a headless chicken and leaving a trail of confusing and uncoordinated travel directives isn’t helping at all.
Iris Gonzales’ email address is eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com