Local government units must first implement the resolutions of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on travel protocols because these were adopted on behalf of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Palace said Thursday.
Still, Malacañang said the government’s decision to remove the swab test requirement for travel among fully vaccinated people was made as an incentive for getting their COVID-19 jabs.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, the concurrent IATF spokesman, sought to assure LGUs the government’s pandemic task force was not deaf to their concerns.
“IATF resolutions are resolutions adopted for and on behalf of the President in the exercise of police power. That’s binding on all unless you declare yourself to be an independent republic,” Roque said.
The spokesman made this remark amid concerns raised by some health experts over the risks posed by simply presenting vaccination cards that prove that a person has been fully vaccinated without swab test results.
He said the science behind it was that if a person is vaccinated, the chances of getting severely ill are almost none.
Roque also said there is also a chance that the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests would give the wrong result.
“There’s really no 100 percent guarantee,” Roque said in Filipino.
Still, he said, the IATF was meeting with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) last night to discuss the concerns of LGUs that want to retain the test requirement on Thursday night.
“The IATF is not deaf. They listen to what local governments are saying,” he said.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said LGUs can still require fully vaccinated travelers to show a negative swab test result as a requirement for entry into their jurisdictions.
A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or one dose of a single-dose vaccine.
The vaccine must be among the brands cleared for emergency use in the Philippines. These are Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V and Moderna.
Governors on Thursday urged the national government to give them discretion over domestic travel requirements after a recent policy allowing fully-vaccinated persons to skip confirmatory swab tests.
The Department of Health has said it would review the latest travel policy after local officials expressed concerns, citing lack of consultation and the difficulty in validating vaccination cards.
Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco Jr., national president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, said most governors want local governments to be allowed to use RT-PCR or antigen tests for fully-vaccinated persons.
“Not all LGUs will use it, [but] we just want the LGU to be given discretion or an option to mandate a testing requirement. It will depend on the LGUs,” he said in Filipino.
Velasco added that even fully-vaccinated individuals may still contract COVID-19.
“Experts say even if you’re fully-vaccinated you’re not 100 percent protected. You may contract mild to moderate infection but not severe…which means you can still be infected and become a carrier,” he said.
Meanwhile, passengers at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) still lined up at its antigen testing center Thursday morning amid confusing government guidelines on whether fully-vaccinated travelers must still present a negative COVID-19 test result at their destinations.
Different interpretations by LGUs added to the confusion.
For instance, Boracay Island continues to require negative swab test results even for fully vaccinated tourists, citing concerns of tampering with vaccination cards.
On Wednesday, Baguio City announced that online registration for non-residents is still required when entering the city even if they already have their Covid-19 vaccination card.
Navotas City, meanwhile, requires visitors from outside the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus bubble to submit health-related documents before they can be allowed entry into the city.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday directed regional and provincial police units to coordinate with LGUs regarding their respective protocols on the entry of travelers.
PNP chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar also reminded the public to find out the existing rules on the localities they will visit to avoid inconvenience. This developed as protocols for fully vaccinated travelers are still being finalized by the IATF.