After releasing a memorandum reducing the number of travellers entering the country, the government has announced that Filipinos working and living abroad can now return to the Philippines, after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) revised the rules on the suspension of entry of incoming travellers.
Under Resolution 103 approved Thursday (March 18), the IATF-EID allows all Filipino citizens abroad to go back home.
All Filipinos Abroad Now Allowed Entry Into PH with IATF’s Latest Update on Travel Rules
According to the Philippine News Agency, the latest resolution said: “All Filipino citizens, whether returning overseas Filipino or overseas Filipino worker (OFW), shall be allowed to return to the Philippines.”
The latest directive came after a memorandum circular issued on Tuesday temporarily barred non-OFWs from entering the country due to the upward trend in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases nationwide.
The travel ban, according to IATF-EID Resolution 103, will be imposed on most foreign travellers from March 22 to April 21.
Exempted from the travel restrictions are diplomats and members of international organizations, foreigners involved in medical repatriation, foreign seafarers under the “Green Lanes” program, foreign spouses and children of Filipino citizens travelling with them, and other emergency humanitarian cases approved by the National Task Force against Covid-19.
The resolution clarifies, however, that Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente has the “exclusive prerogative to decide on waiver or recall of exclusion orders for all foreign nationals authorized entry under relevant IATF resolutions, subject to regular reporting to the IATF Secretariat at the end of each calendar month.”
It added that “the entry of all of the foregoing shall still be subject to such daily limit of incoming passengers as may be imposed by the Department of Transportation”.
Moreover, the new memorandum on international travel states that the 1,500 daily passenger cap for international inbound passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) remains.
In line with this, some senators earlier questioned the move of the government on imposing the passenger limit on international arrivals saying it is ‘ineffective’.
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