Senator Joel Villanueva on Thursday called on the government to reconsider its decision on the entry ban of returning Filipinos amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Every Filipino who had lost his job, on his last money, and had last seen his family years ago, is a kababayan in distress. Huwag po natin antaying magkalkal sila ng mga basura para makakain o mamalimos sa tabi-tabi,” Villanueva said in a statement.
(Let’s not wait for them to rummage through garbage for food or seek alms on the street.)
The senator added the government should not allow the number of returning Filipinos waiting for their flight to increase because they might run out of money.
Villanueva chairs the Senate labor committee.
According to the new guidelines released by the country’s pandemic task force, only OFWs will be allowed to enter the Philippines from March 18 to April 19.
Due to the travel cap and entry ban, only 1,500 travelers per day from the previous 3,000 would be allowed to enter the country so that the quarantine facilities will not be immediately filled up.
In the event that the number of incoming passengers exceeds 1,500, the airlines will be liable or fined.
Villanueva appeals entry ban on returning Filipinos
However, the following are exempted from the ban:
- Holders of 9(c) visas
- Medical repatriation and their escort/s duly endorsed by the DFA-OUMWA or OWWA
- Distressed ROFs duly endorsed by DFA-OUMWA
- Emergency, humanitarian, and other analogous cases approved by the NTF-COVID-19
Villanueva believes that the entry ban of returning Filipinos from coming home to their families is the solution.
“This is the most inhumane act we can do to our fellow Filipinos. Again, this requires using simple and tested approaches: strict quarantine requirements, effective contact tracing, and quick-roll out of the vaccination program,” he said.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the cap on the number of inbound passengers allowed to enter the Philippines every day would increase once the COVID-19 cases decrease.
“Once na nakita po natin na medyo bumaba ‘yung kaso, pwede po natin i-akyat ‘yan ng 2,000 and another 2,000,” Galvez said.
(Once we see that cases have gone down, we can increase the cap to 2,000, and another 2,000.)