The Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines advised against traveling to restricted countries including the UAE for non-essential purposes due to risks of being stranded.
DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola stressed that returning to the Philippines from countries facing travel restrictions might see their return flight to the Philippines canceled, as with the case of other recently-repatriated Filipinos.
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“We’d just like to discourage our kababayans from traveling na hindi emergency or essential right now. This is a lesson learned for everyone – if you’re going to a restricted country. mahirap po talagang bumalik and very erratic po talaga ngayon yung virus,” said Arriola.
From June to July, the DFA has repatriated 2,067 overseas Filipinos from the UAE, 47% of which included Filipino tourists who got stranded due to travel ban restrictions, as well as those whose working contracts weren’t renewed.
When the Inter-Agency Task Force announced the travel ban in mid-May, this caused all airlines to cancel their flights. The latest extension of the travel restriction until August 15 caused a new wave of flight cancellations, with some airlines reportedly canceling their commercial flights for the entire month.
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Arriola advised Filipinos to think twice before making travel plans as they might risk getting stranded – whether they’re coming from the UAE to the Philippines and intend to head back to their host country, or Filipinos who plan to visit the UAE for a quick vacation.
“Pag-isipan po nating mabuti if we’re going to travel because we might get stranded and we don’t want you to be inconvenienced. Unless it’s very essential po yung pag-travel ng pangi-ngibang bayan. we are discouraging people in traveling, especially to restricted countries. Hindi po natin alam kung kailan po papayagan ang commercial flights, baka po ma-stranded kayo and ayaw po nating mangyari iyon sa inyo,” explained Arriola.
