Special Immigration team to screen, handle Filipinos returning from Hubei, China
MANILA, Philippines — A special team of immigration officers will handle the arrival of Filipinos repatriated from Hubei, the Chinese province where the novel coronavirus outbreak started, Department of Justice said.
The team will conduct immigration processes such as the verification of their identities and updating of travel records.
This is to ensure that “our security is not compromised by those who seek to gain entry into our territory by exploiting the current situation,” Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete told reporters Wednesday.
“We need to remember that terrorism, among others, remains as valid a threat as the current medical emergency we are facing,” he added.
In September 2019, the Bureau of Immigration announced it had arrested three foreign nationals who had tried to enter the country with fake travel documents.
"?The passengers include a Chinese national who arrived with a fraudulently acquired Philippine passport, an African with a bogus Mali passport, and another Chinese man with a fake Canadian visa," the BI said then.
Perete is DOJ’s spokesperson and is the undersecretary for immigration.
The Bureau of Quarantine has briefed the team of immigration officers. They will also be provided with necessary protective gear, Perete explained.
DFA: Charter flights for repatriation ready
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday night that it stands ready to bring home Filipinos in Hubei province who want to be repatriated.
The DFA has prepared two private charter airlines that will fly them back to the country.
Those who will arrive in Manila will be quarantined for 14 days following Department of Health guidelines.
The United States and Japan repatriated hundreds of their nationals from Wuhan, where more than 50 million people have been locked down.
Latest data reported 132 deaths from nCoV, with more than 6,000 confirmed cases.
In the Philippines, the number of “patients under investigation” under DOH monitoring has gone down to 23.
A 29-year-old Chinese patient confined at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila died due to pneumonia, DOH officials said in a press conference Wednesday. The case however is not yet confirmed to be novel coronavirus.
The Philippines has no confirmed case of nCoV as of Wednesday, the Health department stated.
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