CEBU CITY, Philippines — There is no need for Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to “beg” for Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to allow foreigners to set foot in Cebu in order to embark on their repatriation flights via the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in a press conference this afternoon, April 1, 2020, said she would allow the entry of foreigners who are due for repatriation as long as proper coordination will be made between the facilitating agency and the provincial government.
Garcia said it would be ideal that if the foreigners will be brought to Cebu via sea, they should come in one batch and escorted by the police in going straight to MCIA and board their flights.
If by chartered flight, the governor said the passengers’ access should only be limited within the airport.
“What is less ideal and what is more difficult is when they cannot immediately take that [repatriation] flight and they have to stay overnight. Then, we will again be exposing our hotel personnel, other hotel guests and other people in the vicinity to them,” Garcia said.
In a series of tweets on Monday morning, Locsin said Cebu is making the evacuation of stranded foreigners “difficult.” /rcg
I am trying to spare Philippine tourism from a justified retaliation in the future. I am also asking our local officials to put themselves in the shoes/rubber slippers of foreign tourists stuck here for the duration—out in the open with their kids or price-gouged in hotels. https://t.co/yhm9EITzrJ
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) April 1, 2020
Locsin then said: “On my knees. I beg Cebu, please.”
LAST GERMAN FLIGHT OUT planned for this weekend to take last tourists stranded in Palawan, Siargao, Dumagete, Iloilo, Bohol, Caticlan, Surigao, Tacloban, Mindanao & Bacolod to Cebu and Manila. Cebu makes it hard for evacuees to enter its airport. On my knees, I beg Cebu, please.
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) April 1, 2020
The country’s top diplomat said by helping the foreigners be repatriated, he is sparing the country from “justified retaliation” in the future.
“I hope that Secretary Locsin will know that I am really making things hard but I also beseech their understanding that we are trying to protect Cebu. So, let us just properly coordinate,” Garcia said.
Garcia, in earlier interviews, asked other government agencies to stop giving “special treatment” to foreigners by letting them get inside Cebu to board their repatriation flights despite the province’s enhanced community quarantine.
Garcia also said thee were no coordination made for the recent arrivals of foreigners who were due for repatriation.