It will be recalled that on Sunday, the Palace said that for those who are fully vaccinated, only the vaccination card could be shown at the destination instead of the COVID-19 test result.
But after the complaint of some LGUs, the DOH said to go back to the previous directive while still ironing out the trouble with the IATF.
Charito Chavez was carrying his vaccination card, but instead of boarding the bus to PITX, he had to line up for an antigen test.
“Medyo naguluhan nga ako… Ang sabi ticket lang bibilhin, wala nang antigen o swab… Nung bumalik kami kailangan daw may antigen pa buti kamo may extra akong perang dala, eh kung wala, babalik kami ng asawa ko,” he complained.
According to the Catanduanes LGU, they are also confused by the ever-changing announcements.
“While we do not fully agree with guidelines… We are tied to the guidelines… We are confused, but ‘yun nga po we are left with no choice,” said Nikko Templonuevo of Catanduanes Public Information Office.
Also read: Negative COVID-19 results still needed for travel – DOH
Passengers, LGUs confused with government travel protocols
In the face of the confusion, the League of Provinces of the Philippines insisted that LGUs should be allowed to decide whether to require the COVID-19 test on fully vaccinated tourists.
It is said that it is not possible to implement uniform or single protocols throughout the country because the situation of LGUs is different.
Baguio City, however, has vowed to accept fully vaccinated tourists.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, on the other hand, believes that there may be travelers who forge vaccination cards.
Leisure travelers to Baguio City still need to register online at visita.baguio.gov.ph and obtain a QR-coded tourist pass to be allowed to enter the city.
Tourists who have not yet completed their vaccine doses must show a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or antigen test result. Baguio also implements mandatory triage when entering the city for health and documents verification.
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