PCG allows cruise ship to dock in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) scare, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed it had allowed a cruise ship from Japan to dock at a port in Manila on Thursday to refuel “for a few hours.”

Capt. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesman, said the cruise ship Spectrum of the Seas was allowed to dock at the Manila South Harbor after it secured clearance from the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ). The ship was supposed to leave at 5 p.m. yesterday. 

Balilo pointed out that they did not allow any passengers and crew to get off the ship. 

“There’s a crew, there are passengers, but they were not allowed to disembark. The ship was allowed to dock because its purpose was for bunkering only,” he said in Filipino and English.

The PCG official added that no inspection by government personnel was made onboard the ship.

As far as the BOQ clearance is concerned, it was issued based on the condition that the ship was only to dock for refueling and none of its crew or passengers would disembark.

“There’s no report if anyone on board was sick at the time, because no one was to get off. There was no untoward report on the passengers,” Balilo said.

Spectrum was scheduled to depart the Manila port at 5 p.m. yesterday.