The Bureau of Immigration said that foreigners staying in the country whose visas expired during the Enhanced Community Quarantine can file their visa extension 30 days after the ECQ period is lifted.
Immigration commissioner Jaime Morente said that foreigners may opt to file their extensions thirty days after the lifting of the quarantine period and no penalties will be charged.
“Since the ECQ was extended, we will continue our skeletal deployment in compliance with the directives from Malacanang to be able to ensure that we practice social distancing and lessen the risks of further spreading COVID-19,” said Morente.
“We have scaled down our operations significantly, following the closure of many international airports, as well as quarantine measures being implemented in the country,” he said.
Morente likewise advised foreign nationals who chose to remain in the country to stay indoors during the quarantine period.
“Please stay at home, let us all follow the restrictions being imposed by the government to be able to defeat this virus,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Morente lauded frontline personnel who remain on duty despite the Covid-19 outbreak, saying “the BI frontliners face risks, but nevertheless brave this pandemic to report for duty and fulfill our mandate.”
He reiterated the call of frontliners to abide by the quarantine measures and stay at home, adding “we are all very hopeful that together we can overcome this and as a country heal as one.”
Meanwhile, PhilJets Aero Charter Corp, a leading regional Southeast Asian business aviation company, has transferred 144 tourists that were still stranded in the Philippines back to their countries of residence.
In total, 101 German and 10 French nationals were flown by PhilJets using a variety of aircraft manufactured in Canada such as the Bombardier Q400, in the USA such as the Cessna 206 and in Germany such as the Dornier 328.
In addition, other passengers benefited from the mission, including 16 Filipinos, 5 Austrians, 4 Irish, Slovakia and Belgian citizens as well as other European, Singaporean and Israeli national passengers.
“We are all delighted to have contributed to support this initiative and assist hundreds of tourists in need and we are happy they were able to reach their homes safely,” Geoffroy Cahen, Commercial Director of PhilJets said.
Despite managing a fleet of only 17 aircrafts including nine helicopters and eight private jets, PhilJets had to use its industry partners’ aircrafts to support the mission.
The operational partners of PhilJets included flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, Platinum Skies Aviation and Asian Aerospace, which all contributed in making the entire journey possible by providing the required aircrafts.
“We extend our gratitude to everyone involved in the missions in providing the stranded families a solution to get back home to their loved ones. We will continue to assist and provide our support to customers, partners and the community, to the best of our capabilities,” Roberto Reguero, chief executive of PhilJets said.
“We hope that together, we will manage to get through these difficult times,” he added.
PhilJets also started arranging air cargo transport, cargo flights and logistics, in order to fulfill the demand from protective personal equipment and other various equipment including masks, gowns, gloves, both from China to the Philippines and international cargo flights.
