THE government has yet to decide whether to impose a ban on travelers coming from Hong Kong but maintained that overseas Filipino workers coming from the territory will be admitted to the country despite the latest surge of COVID-19 cases there, Malacanang said yesterday.
“All Filipinos from anywhere in the world can return to the Philippines, there is no ban against Filipinos coming home to the Philippines,” Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said.
Nograles said there is no decision yet about a possible travel ban on Filipinos or other travelers who would come from Hong Kong but added that Filipinos intending to go to Hong Kong are encouraged to be fully vaccinated before they leave the country.
Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Raly Tejada said he is hoping that such a ban, especially on returning Filipinos from Hong Kong, would not be imposed but left the decision to the country’s experts and leaders.
Tejada said at least 61 Filipinos in HK have tested positive for COVID-19 but “all of them are safe and have received medical attention and are now staying in an isolation facility.”
He said many of the infected OFWs, especially domestic workers, have been brought to isolation facilities and have been treated. He said the Philippine government has also provided assistance to the affected OFWs.
Senatorial bets Guillermo Eleazar urged the government to “blacklist” Hong Kong employers who reportedly abandoned OFWs after they got infected with COVID-19.
Eleazar said this showed employers have no concern for Filipino workers who have served them.
“It saddens and at the same angers me that after they served them (Hong Kong employers) they abandoned (them) like animals after they got infected with COVID-19. If that’s the case, the government should instead blacklist these employers who have no sympathy for their employees,” Eleazar said.
Another senatorial candidate, Herbert “Bistek” Bautista, called for an investigation into reports that sick OFWs in Hong Kong are being driven out of their employers’ homes and left to fend for themselves on the streets.
“This is alarming for many of the families of our countrymen in Hong Kong…The worst thing is the agony of their families back home,” said Bautista, who advocated workers’ protection and welfare as mayor of Quezon City for three terms.
Bautista also asked the government to clarify conflicting reports on the situation of OFWs in Hong Kong.
