MANILA – All Filipino citizens, including non-overseas Filipino workers, are allowed to enter the country, a revised memorandum by the National Task Force (NTF) against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) said.
The changes were made public on Friday after its previous memo stated that only overseas Filipino workers are allowed to return home as cases of COVID-19 increase.
The memo also modified the travel restriction dates on foreigners as they are now barred from crossing the country’s borders from March 22 to April 21 from previous dates of March 20 to April 19.
The NTF, however, kept the exemptions to diplomats and members of international organizations and their dependents who hold a valid 9(e) visa or 47(a)(2) visa; foreign nationals involved in medical repatriation duly endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
Also given an exemption by the NTF are foreign seafarers under the “Green Lanes” program for crew change; foreign spouses and children of Filipino citizens traveling with them provided they have valid visas at the time of entry; and emergency, humanitarian and other analogous cases approved by the NTF chairperson or his duly authorized representative.
The task force did not make changes to number of international inbound passengers arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Only 1,500 travelers are allowed per day.
The NTF decided to tighten its borders on foreigners following the increase of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The OCTA Research Group, meanwhile, predicted that if the trend of increase of cases will continue, the Philippines can have 11,000 new cases a day./PN
