MANILA, Philippines — Even as the threat of more contagious and vaccine-evasive variants of the coronavirus hangs over the country, the Philippines is on track to loosen travel restrictions further by dropping testing and vaccination requirements.
Tourism Secretary Maria Cristina Frasco announced Tuesday that “stringent protocols” including RT-PCR testing prior to arrival in the Philippines and the requirement for foreigners traveling to the country to be fully vaccinated will be scrapped.
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Frasco said unvaccinated foreign travelers will be allowed entry into the country as long as they present an antigen test taken 24 hours before arrival into the country or take an antigen test upon arrival.
“We are optimistic that with all of these restrictions being lifted by the Marcos administration, that this can only redound to the benefit of the lives of millions of Filipinos that serve to benefit as well the reinvigoration of the tourism industry,” Frasco said in a press briefing.
The DOT has yet to announce a date when these new protocols will be effective.
She added that the overarching direction of the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is to let the country “convey an openness and a readiness to the world to receive tourists and investments.”
Asked about concerns over the XBB and XBC variants — the first cases of which were detected last week and have reached the level of local transmission — Frasco said these were not the first variants of the coronavirus.
“In the end, we simply cannot go on in a pandemic perspective because we have to give our country an opportunity to thrive while maintaining basic health protocols on one hand and safeguarding and protecting livelihood and the economy on the other,” she said.
The easing of travel restrictions were announced along with the plan to make masking optional indoors.