Palace extends flight diversion

CEBU, Philippines —  International flights bound for Mactan Cebu International Airport will have to land at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila until June 12, 2021.

Malacañang extended the diversion of flights in a memorandum issued by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. The decision to divert flights to Manila was supposed to be only until June 5, 2021.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Medialdea issued the order, “to ensure that upon resumption of international flights to Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the travel and testing protocols approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will be fully and seamlessly implemented.”

“So, ang inaasahan po natin that by June 13, the IATF protocols on arriving OFWs and OFs will be implemented in Cebu,” Roque said in a press briefing yesterday.

The memorandum came just days after Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia sought an audience with President Rodrigo Duterte to explain Cebu’s protocol for arriving Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROF), which IATF had said runs contrary to its policies.

Garcia’s protocol allows OFWs and ROFs to proceed to home quarantine if they test negative in RT-PCR upon arrival at the airport. They will stay at a hotel for two days to wait for the result. On the seventh day of home quarantine, they will be swabbed again.

But IATF rules mandate travelers to quarantine for 10 days in a government facility and quarantine at home on the 10th to 14th day.

Garcia has said that guidelines are not defiant to IATF protocols and told Duterte, “The way I see it, Mr. President, we are in fact innovating to make it more effective for us… In fact, in Cebu, we have made it even stricter in the sense that it is not a single swab; we swab twice.”

She also highlighted the “humanitarian aspect” in modifying the protocol, saying the OFWs “do not come home to have a good time.”

“Sometimes they do not even have enough cash to pay for the ticket, they borrow money and do cash advance. And they come home, that’s because there’s a reason. It is in time of emergency. It’s either there’s a member of the family who is very sick or someone has died,” Garcia reasoned.

Reacting on the latest development, Garcia said on Tuesday:

"We will study our position, as duly elected and accountable officials of the Province of Cebu. We all must adhere to the rule of law."

Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) General Manager, Atty. Glenn Napuli, they were surprised to receive a copy of the memorandum, considering that they have just resumed accepting international flights on June 6, 2021. Flights from Singapore and Qatar have landed in Cebu that day.

Department of Health (DOH)-7 spokesperson and chief pathologist, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, said it is now Garcia’s call what protocols to follow.

Duterte has directed the DOH central office to “critique” Garcia’s policy.

In Manila, Senate President Vicente Sotto was vocal of his support for Garcia’s policy.

In a Facebook post, Sotto describes Garcia's policy as "innovative, safe and reasonable protocol" for OFWs compared to IATF's guidelines that "gives additional burden to our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROF)."

"In this manner, the IATF-required quarantine swab test have not been violated. The purpose for which these protocols were put in place has not been defeated. It's actually a win-win solution for both the OFW and ROF and the government," Sotto said. — Le Phyllis F. Antojado, JMO (FREEMAN)