ANTIQUE – With quarantine restrictions gradually being eased this holiday season, more Antiqueños based outside their home province are expected to come home.
Thus the only airlines serving Antique, the Philippine Airlines, is increasing its flight frequency – from the current two each week to three – beginning Dec. 1.
The flights will come from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
At present, the plane servicing Antique is a 60-seater.
Antique’s Evelio Javier Airport is located in San Jose town. It is classified a Class 2 principal (minor domestic) airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of not only this airport but also of all other airports in the Philippines except the major international airports.
The airport is named after Evelio Javier, a Marcos-critic politician who served as Antique’s governor from 1971 to 1980 and was assassinated on Feb. 11, 1986.
The Airport Terminal Building and other Facilities are being planned for reconstruction to accommodate more passengers and planes.
FERRY SERVICES, TOO
Starlite ferry will resume its operation on Dec. 1.
The route is Batangas port – Caticlan port (Aklan) – Lipata Port (Culasi, Antique).
The provincial government recently announced it was doing away with the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test requirement for fully vaccinated Antique-bound travelers.
It released the requirements for returning Antiqueños and Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs),
For returning Antiqueños
* secure a notice of coordination and acceptance
* for persons (including infants and children) who are not fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), secure a negative RT-PCR test result
* for the fully vaccinated against COVID-19, present a COVID-19 vaccination card issued by a legitimate vaccinating establishment and certificate of vaccination from the vaccination site or DOH portal (vaxcert.doh.gov.ph)
* provide an approved S-pass quick response (QR) code (apply for S-Pass at least 12 hours before travel to give leeway to the coordinators to process the request)
For APORs
Authorized persons outside of residence of national government agencies, their attached agencies and other local government units, travelling on official business and coming from places outside of Region 6 shall:
* provide their travel/mission order, travel itinerary, and valid ID
* for persons (including infants and children) who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, secure a negative RT-PCR test result
* for those who are fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine, present a COVID-19 vaccination card issued by a legitimate vaccinating establishment and certificate of vaccination from the vaccination site or DOH portal (vaxcert.doh.gov.ph)
* provide an approved S-pass quick response (QR) Code (apply for S-Pass at least twelve hours before travel to give leeway to the coordinators to process the request)/PN
