Except OFWs, passengers barred from Cebu airport

CEBU, Philippines —  GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), operator of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, has issued its own guidelines to prevent the entry of the new coronavirus variant into Cebu.

The issuance of the guideline is in compliance with Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Resolution Nos. 90 and 91.

According to GMCAC, all passengers arriving from 20 countries with reported new variant of SARS-CoV-2 shall be prohibited from entering the Philippines through MCIA effective 00:01 of December 30, 2020 until January 15, 2021.

These countries are Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong (SAR), Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and United Kingdom.

GMCAC said that Filipino citizens coming from or who had visited any of these countries are allowed entry to the Philippines but shall be required to undergo a stricter 14-day quarantine period regardless of negative RT-PCR test result upon arrival.

It added that passengers already in transit and those who have been to the aforementioned countries within 14 days from entry into the Philippines and who arrived before 00:01 of December 30, 2020, shall be required to undergo stricter 14-day quarantine and testing protocols regardless of negative RT-PCR swab test result upon arrival.

“All passengers are advised to follow health and safety protocols to ensure the health and well-being of all passengers and airport staff,” the advisory read.

Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration-7 information officer Eda Marie Enclonar said they are now closely coordinating with the Bureau of Quarantine for the processing of OFWs who will be arriving in Cebu and coming from the mentioned countries.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said that between 60,000 to 100,000 OFWs coming from these countries are expected to come home.

“As of now, we have no figures kung pila ani nila ang mo uli diri sa Cebu. We will only knew that once ma process na nato ang ilang arrival,” said Enclonar.

MCIA Authority general manager Steve Dicdican said the other day that they have already negotiated 140 hotel rooms for the OFWs coming from the 20 countries for the latter’s 14-day mandatory quarantine.

Their stay, Dicdican said, will be paid for by the government.

Police ready

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office-7 is ready to enforce the guidelines from the IATF on the new COVID-19 strain threat. Likewise, the office said it is doing measures to protect frontliners from their ranks from the threat.

“Naa nay mga measures na gi-implement ang IATF....kita naman diri sa Central Visayas nag-monitor sad ta, so tuloy-tuloy lang,” said PRO-7 chief Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo.

Should there be tight border controls, Montejo said the PRO-7 is ready to provide assistance to the local government units.

Montejo said PRO-7 is also taking care of the frontliner cops to protect them from the newest threat of the COVID-19 strain.

“Ang nahitabo gyud hilabi pa tung sa una wala pa gyuy nakabalo unsaon, karon kay at least naa na tay mga lessons learned, so kini atong mga nahibaw-an pwede nato ni gamiton,” said Montejo.

PRO-7 has launched a station health unit composed of cops with medical background who will regularly check and observe the health of each of the police personnel.

“Para sad mapangalagaan ang kalusugan sa kanya-kanya nga mga police personnel so from time to time gi-monitor tapos tagaan og mga kinahanglan, mga vitamins, tapos ang mga city health standards ginasunod diri sulod sa kapulisan,” said Montejo.

Montejo also said that the police will continue to enforce the minimum health standard protocols and to observe such protocols themselves.

“So ang importante atong nga kapulisan naa unta sa maayo nga panlawas or condition ug layo sa infection mao ng kami mismo, mag-caution-nay mi sa usag-usa,” he said. — Iris Hazel M. Mascardo, JMD (FREEMAN)