The National Task Force against COVID-19 will temporarily suspend the entry of returning Filipinos and foreign travelers to the country starting March 20 to April 19, 2021.
Exempted from the ban are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“All concerned agencies are hereby directed to limit the number of inbound international passengers to the country to only one thousand five hundred (1,500) a day and to temporarily suspend the entry of foreign nationals and returning overseas Filipinos who are non-OFWs,” the memorandum signed by NTF Chair Delfin Lorenzana.
The order also cited the number of cases with new COVID-19 variants involving returning overseas Filipinos.
As of March 13, 18 of the new cases of the UK variant came from returning Filipinos.
The following are exempted from the month-long ban:
- Holders of 9(c) visa
- Medical repatriation endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs
- Distressed returning overseas Filipinos
- Emergency, humanitarian and analogous cases
Philippine Airlines was the one who announced the passenger limit effective this week.
“Philippine Airlines will operate our full international schedule for March 18 but we will be announcing in due course any flight cancellations on other days for the rest of the period,” the statement added.
The airline company assured that it will comply with the directives of the Bureau of Immigration on the type of travellers that will be allowed within the period of the ban.
“Please note that certain passenger types will thus need to postpone their Manila-bound travels until after the stated period,” the statement added.
“Please stay posted for further updates, as we await the final announcements and information from the BI and the concerned authorities,” PAL announced.
The airline said they are now preparing for the necessary adjustments to make sure that they cooperate with the government’s move to stop the spread of COVID-19.
