At least 7,000 workers in airlines, cruise ships, travel agencies, and hotel and restaurants were about to be laid off within the next six months as more enterprises are forced to implement retrenchment programs to cope with the business losses caused by the growing 2019 coronavirus disease outbreak crisis worldwide, according to a big labor group.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines made the prediction after Philippine Airlines was forced to retrench 300 due to flight cancellations and travel ban on its key market.
READ: Korea travel ban on hold, says BI
“The PAL retrenchment program and the travel bans will trigger more layoffs in several of its supply chains that includes hotels, restaurants, land transport service, logistics, catering and other suppliers of the airlines. It is now inevitable that other airlines, to cope with the crisis, will also make similar retrenchments of non-essential jobs which will also affect workers down their supply chains,” TUCP president and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said.
Major local airlines have started cutting back and canceling flights in Manila and Cebu to and from South Korea beginning today (March 1) following the travel ban imposed by the Philippine government to the said country where more than 2,000 people got infected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019.
READ: Pinoys cautioned against travel to South Korea; infections rising
South Korea confirmed 594 more cases of the COVID-19, raising the total number of infections to 2,931 as of Saturday.
The management of Philippine Airlines said it was compelled to cut back on the number of its flights to and from South Korea this month due to the latest travel restrictions.
The daily PAL flights PR 468 and PR 469 to and from Seoul were canceled from March 1 to 31 while the three-times a week flights of PR 418 and PR 419 to and from Busan were also suspended until March 30.
Suspended flights
PAL also suspended the Manila-Busan-Manila flights scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays from March 8 to 29, and the five-times a week flights Manila-Seoul-Manila from March 12 to 31.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals are asking every incoming South Korean passengers to present identification card such as South Korean national ID, family register or even driver’s license that they are not from North
Gyeongsang province, Daegu and Cheongdo or even visited the places before they allowed entry.
Immigration supervisor at NAIA Terminal 2 said that they are asking incoming South Korean passengers to present any valid identification as proof they are not from the said provinces to protect our country from spreading that virus.
Dr. Noe Revilla, animal quarantine officer-in-charge at the NAIA Terminal 1 said that they are strictly monitoring the arrival of pets mostly dogs from different parts of the world especially in the COVID-19 affected countries.
Revilla said his office required the pet owners a veterinary health certificate, import permit and documents that the pets are vaccinated against rabies upon arrival at the airport.
He also said a South Korean passenger brought with him two dogs, a Chihuahua and a Bichon Friese on flight from Incheon South Korea on board Korean Air.
The dog underwent a thorough inspection despite owner presented veterinary health certificate and import permit as the dogs are in healthy situation and allowed entry.
Revilla also said that pets would be returned to the port of origin or refused entry if the pet owner could not present the complete documents.
4 countries included
Meanwhile, airport sources said Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and even Singapore might be included in the travel ban in the future as Inter-Agency Task Force was closely monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 in those countries.
PAL said flights to and from South Korea started operating under new travel guidelines to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
All travelers, regardless of nationality, who have been to North Gyeongsang in Daegu are banned from entering the country from Korea, the flag carrier said.
Filipinos traveling to Korea for tourism are covered by the travel ban while those studying, employed or are permanent residents are exempted provided that they show proof of identification, the airline said.
“Travel ban applies to all passengers who have been to North Gyeongsang province including Daegu City,” PAL said.
PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said that airline representatives in Incheon and Busan airports are distributing to their passenger an information slip to be filled up before they are entertained.
In that slip, the passenger must indicate their permanent address in Korea and if they visited the three provinces in Korea and submit it to the airline representative at the counter before they will be entertained, Villaluna said
Tested negative
An official of the Department of Health on Saturday said four out of seven symptomatic repatriates from cruise ship Diamond Princess docked in Japan who are now in quarantine at New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac province have tested negative for the COVID-19.
“Four of them were negative for the virus,” said DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in an interview over radio dzMM, beamed nationwide.
She added that the four repatriates who tested negative for COVID-19 are still admitted at referral hospitals.
“Their condition ks still being managed. But once thrre are no more symptoms. they will be brought back to their rooms in New Clark City,” Vergeire said, adding that repatriates have to finish their 14-day quarantine period which started last week.
She said the DOH was still waiting for the results of tests done on samples taken from the remaining three Filipino repatriates who are also experiencing respiratory symptoms.
Their specimens are being tested by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
“While we are still waiting for the other test results, we assure the public that our referral hospitals are well-equipped and prepared to handle COVID-19 cases once they arise,” said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
Boosting tourism
With the effect of the COVID-19 on the global tourism industry accelerating rapidly, Senator Richard Gordon stressed the need to implement the Holiday Economics Law to boost domestic tourism.
But Health Sec. Francisco Duque III earlier reminded the public to avoid crowded places as the nationwide mall sale nears.
“Our advisory remains. If it can be helped, we discourage people from going to places where there is quite a volume of people just to make sure that there is no increased risk,” he said.
“If it will be continued, consistent with our advisory, disinfection procedures must be followed. The availability of disinfectants must be there”•provided by the mall management,” he added.
Duque sqid it would also be better if thermal guns were available to monitor the body temperature of shoppers entering the malls.
A month-long nationwide sale in March was organized by the Department of Tourism in a bid to encourage tourists to visit the country. It has been scheduled way before the COVID-19 outbreak started.
PAL retrenchment
Mendoza said the PAL retrenchment was just the beginning of the bigger adverse economic effect of the escalating outbreak of COVID-19 phenomenon.
Aside from the airline industry, Mendoza said, the other type of workers who would be seriously affected are those Filipino sea-based people working in a passenger cruise and cargo ships due to a slump in sales as fallout from COVID-19 outbreak that grounded the Diamond Princess cruise ship and laid off more than 500 Filipino crew.
“Job orders for Filipino seafarers are zero. Other Filipino crew in other cruise ships are about to be sent home in the next few weeks including those with unexpired contract in case passenger bookings being monitored by ship operators and shipowners unable to meet the number of passengers required for the trip,” said Mendoza.
The TUCP is now undertaking arrangements with shipowners and manning agencies to abide by their collective bargaining agreements with their unionized crew and make a reasonable retrenchment and separation package with those crew who doesn’t have contracts and collective bargaining agreement with them.
More land-based overseas Filipino workers working as teachers, drivers, entertainers, cooks, waiters, receptionists, and household service workers will be hit by the economic slump in countries that will be coming back home.
Economic repercussion
On one hand, domestic enterprises and local companies indirectly affected but “feeling the heat’ of the growing crisis by the outbreak of COVID-19 are into the mode of employing mechanisms to minimize the backlash of the economic repercussion of the outbreak.
“These coping measures include forced leaves, voluntary separation schemes, work from home arrangement and other operational cost-saving measures to avoid losses,” he said.
The labor group called on the government to convene the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council composed of labor, business and the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Finance to craft mitigating measures against the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The DOLE should now convene the industrial peace councils established in various industries in drafting common measures for workers and employers to cope,” Mendoza said.
To serve air travelers not covered by the ban, PAL will retain and operate the following flights on selected schedules: March 1 to 11 — PR 466 / 467 Manila – Seoul – Manila (daily); March 12 to 31 — PR 466 / 467 (Wednesday and Sunday only); March 1 — PR 418 / 419 Manila-Busan-Manila; March 3 — PR 418 / 419 Manila-Busan-Manila; March 7 — PR 418 / 419 Manila-Busan-Manila; March 8 to 28 — PR 418 / 419 Manila-Busan-Manila (Tuesday and Saturday only), and March 29 to 31 — PR 418 / 419 Manila-Busan-Manila.
The PAL management said affected passengers of the canceled flights have the option to request for rebooking, rerouting or refunding of the confirmed tickets on or before March 28, 2020.
The Cebu Pacific Air (CEB), on the other hand, is canceling its flights 5J 188 / 5J 187 Manila-Incheon-Manila; 5J 128 / 5J 129 Cebu-Incheon-Cebu; and 5J 180 / 5J 181 Kalibo-Incheon-Kalibo from March 3 to April 30, 2020.
The CEB management offered an apology for the inconvenience and thanked its client passengers for their understanding.
Travel restrictions
Under the travel restrictions, Filipinos are barred from traveling to South Korea, except for overseas Filipino workers, students studying there, and permanent residents.
Foreign nationals who come directly from North Gyeongsang, including Daegu and Cheongdo, or have been there within 14 days immediately preceding arrival will not be allowed to enter the Philippines except permanent resident and diplomatic visa holders, as well as spouse and children of Filipino citizens.
Meanwhile, the Cathay Pacific airlines announced it will continue operating flights between Manila or Cebu and Hong Kong after the Philippine government revised the temporary travel ban to Hong Kong, which states that exemptions have been granted for OFWs, permanent residents, and students.
“With exemptions for selected travellers now in place, we would like to reach out to customers looking at options for their return flight to Hong Kong as we are aware that there is a large number of Filipinos who call Hong Kong their home,” said Bea Bravo, a Cathay Pacific representative.
Bravo said the airline will operate flights between Manila or Cebu and Hong Kong, with the following schedule: Manila to Hong Kong—flight CX930 Daily 1225 / 1510; flight CX920 Daily 1945 / 2220, and Cebu to Hong Kong—flight CX922 Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday 1220 / 1515. With Che Santos and Macon Ramos-Araneta
