BY RAYMOND AFRICA and GERARD NAVAL
SENATORS yesterday called on the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to review and make the necessary adjustments on the government’s quarantine protocols for returning Filipinos in a bid to ease financial strains caused by the “stiff” requirements.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the government should modify the mandatory 10-day quarantine and swab testing conditions, which they said are very expensive, that it set before inbound Filipino travelers are allowed to proceed to their respective destinations.
“Find the middle ground. We cannot be too stiff, too stringent. There are times that we should also be flexible,” Lacson said during the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing on the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program last Tuesday.
Sotto cited the case of a staff member of Lacson’s office who returned to the country earlier this year after a visit to the US, when she was required to pay P2,000 for the van which brought her from the airport to a hotel that served as a government quarantine facility.
Sotto said she paid P60,000 for the six-day hotel accommodation, on top of the P4,500 for swab test, and other incidental expenses. All told, he said the lady staff member spent more than P80,000 during that period.
Under IATF rules, all returning Filipinos and foreigners, even those who have been fully vaccinated abroad, still have to undergo a 10-day facility-based isolation and must undergo a swab test on the 7th day after arrival.
All returning Filipinos fully vaccinated in the Philippines only need to undergo a 7-day quarantine instead of completing the 10-day facility-based isolation. An RT-PCR test will be done on them only if they exhibit flu-like symptoms during their 7-day isolation.
In contrast, Lacson cited the flexibility showed by the Cebu provincial government which implemented its own rules for testing and quarantining returning residents of the province, including allowing them to go home as soon as negative results for their RT-PCR test come out.
Sotto, on the other hand, suggested that the government look at the policy of the United States on inbound travelers and study the possibility of adopting a similar system in the country.
Citing information gathered by his office, Sotto said travelers who arrive in America are asked whether or not they have been fully vaccinated. If the response is in the affirmative, the visitor is allowed to proceed to his or her destination. If in the negative, he/she is asked if he/she wants to be vaccinated. Those who wish to be inoculated are given jabs at the airport, while those who refuse the offer are allowed to leave.
“Let us study if we can adopt this kind of system. This way, people from places with low incidence of COVID-19 will be enticed to come here. This will help in the speedy recovery of our economy,” Sotto said.
On the other hand, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III yesterday proposed the return of the original protocol for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), where they are tested for COVID-19 as soon as they arrive in the country.
In a virtual press briefing, Bello said he will ask the IATF to reconsider the current set-up where OFWs are tested only on the 7th day after their arrival.
“If I make my proposal, when the OFW arrives, they should already be swabbed just like in the old protocol. While waiting for the results, they will undergo quarantine. Once they test negative, they can already go home. That’s what we want,” said Bello.
“Hopefully, the IATF-EID will heed our request. Just bring it down from 10 to 5 days, I am already amenable to it,” he added.
He said this is because continuing with the current protocol eats away much of the vacation period granted to OFWs. “They are based overseas for years. Of course, they miss their families and want to be with them immediately. Usually, they are given one month vacation. But if we place them under quarantine for 10 days, what will be left with their vacation?” asked Bello.
The labor chief also said the positivity rate for returning OFWs is low.
“There have been 580,000 OFWs we have brought home. Less than 1 percent tested positive for COVID-19. Why will we then blame the transmission on them?” he asked, adding: “Why would you attribute the spread of the virus to our OFWs? It has no legal, moral, factual basis in attributing to our OFWs the transmission of the virus.”
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday suspended voter registration activities in the 21 areas which are under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until the end of June.
In a virtual press briefing, Elections spokesman James Jimenez said voter registration is temporarily suspended in Santiago City, Cagayan (Cagayan Valley), Apayao, Ifugao (Cordillera Administrative Region), Bataan (Central Luzon), Lucena City (Calabarzon), Puerto Princesa (Mimaropa), Naga City (Bicol Region), Iloilo City, Iloilo (Western Visayas), Negros Oriental (Central Visayas), Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte (Zamboanga Peninsula), Cagayan de Oro City (Northern Mindanao), Davao City (Davao Region), and Butuan City, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao Del Sur (Caraga).
Jimenez said there will be continuous voter registration in other parts of the country.
