Lawyer Steve Dicdican (left), MCIAA general manager and Andrew Harrison, CEO of GMR- Megawide Cebu Airport Corproation, during a press conference on February 6, 2020 at MCIA | CDN Digital Photo by Morexette Marie B. Erram
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines – It’s business as usual in Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) despite a state of emergency to curb threats of the 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV.
Top officials of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) and GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) announced this in a press conference on Thursday afternoon, February 6.
“We’d like to assure the public that operations are normal. Even if we have implemented contingency measures on the 2019-nCoV, and declared a state of emergency. There will be no disruptions of regular operations,” said MCIAA general manager, lawyer Steve Dicdican.
GMCAC Chief Executive Advisor Andrew Harrison also said they have put additional precautionary measures in place in line with the executive order (EO) of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to place all returning Filipinos under a 14-day quarantine.
These include mandating all workers to wear surgical masks as preventive gears, and all arriving passengers to fill up the health declaration forms, disallowing foreign passengers who have been to China and its territories for the past 14 days to disembark from arriving flights, and putting additional hand sanitizers all around the airport complex.
“The SOE (state of emergency) has had no impact on the current state of operations at any of the two terminals at MCIA. With the exception of the temporary travel ban for foreign nationals originating from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, there are no additional requirements for passengers, airlines or stakeholders at the airport,” said Harrison.
On Monday, February 3, MCIAA signed a memorandum declaring a state of emergency at the airport.
This will effectively allow MCIAA for a possible takeover of all facilities in MCIA, and purchase supplies and equipment if they need to further implement more measures to address the 2019-nCoV threats.
Meanwhile, Harrison also said all workers of MCIA remain free from any symptoms or signs of being unwell.
Employees, especially those who are in close contact with the three patients who tested positive of 2019-nCoV, wore complete protective gear before the travel ban and Garcia’s EO were implemented, said Harrison. /rcg