BI: Around 300 Chinese nationals in PH to be repatriated

MANILA, Philippines — Around 300 Chinese nationals who were refused entry to the Philippines and want to go back to their homeland are set to be repatriated by the Chinese government, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Monday.

“There are around 300 Chinese nationals stranded in Naia (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) because most of the airlines have canceled their flights already to and from the different parts of China,” BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“But our office is coordinating with the Chinese embassy and they have pledged to send an aircraft to fetch their citizens who are stranded in the country. Maybe today or the next few days we’ll find out the details of these flights that the Chinese embassy will be arranging,” Sandoval added.

Sandoval then later clarified the 300 Chinese nationals already include those who expressed desire to return to their country and whose locations are not limited to Manila.

“Just a point of clarification regarding the earlier question about the 300 Chinese. The number does not just include those who are at the airports right now. It also includes the ones the Chinese nationals who are in the country who want to go back to their homelands already,” Sandoval said.

“It’s not just at the airports but includes those who are in the country who wants to go home now. Not only in Manila,” she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered temporary travel ban of visitors from mainland China and its special administrative regions in a bid to contain the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).