Philippine passport holder passengers arriving at the Mactan Cebu International Airport from foreign countries fill up the arrival card forms. |CDND Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Capitol plans to shorten the quarantine period for overseas Filipinos arriving at the Mactan airport and who are already fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia made the announcement during a recent press conference and after meeting with concerned stakeholders to discuss and update protocols on Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) last Tuesday, September 7.
“Vaccination is a personal choice, and it should be incentivized. It should not be punitive,” said Garcia.
There is no definite date yet as to when the new policies will take effect but the governor said she is set to issue a new memorandum prior to its implementation.
If this pushes through, fully vaccinated ROFs and OFWs arriving at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) will only have to undergo quarantine of up to five days.
They will also be subjected to two rounds of swab tests – on the 2nd and 5th day of their arrival, which deviated once again from the standard 7th-day being implemented by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF).
Personnel from the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) stationed at the airport will be verifying the documents and vaccination cards presented upon arrival.
For ROFs, they can present their vaccination card, government certification of vaccination, or the International Certification of Vaccination (ICV).
OFWs, for their part, may show their Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) -verified vaccination card or government certification of vaccination.
Garcia, however, clarified this proposed protocol will only apply to Cebu residents.
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/ dcb