Malacañang has extended the diversion of all international flights from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Cebu to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City until June 12.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, during a Laging Handa press briefing, said the diversion of MCIA flights to NAIA will stay until June 12, to ensure that policies of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will be “fully and seamlessly implemented.”
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on June 5 issued a memorandum on the extension of flight diversion from MCIA to NAIA to ensure the proper implementation of the testing and quarantine protocols imposed on returning Filipinos in the province, Roque said.
The announcement came just two days after MCIA reaccepted inbound international flights last June 6.
Earlier, Malacanang first ordered the diversion of international flights arriving here to NAIA from May 29 to June 5.
Under the new memorandum, the anti-coronavirus measures imposed by the IATF on arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and overseas Filipinos will be implemented in Cebu after June 13, Roque said.
“Upon resumption of international flights to Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the travel and testing protocols approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will be fully and seamlessly implemented,” he said.
The existing IATF-EID rules mandate all arriving passengers, including those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, to stay in a quarantine facility for 10 days and observe home quarantine for another four days.
Incoming travelers are also required to take an RT-PCR test on the seventh day of their quarantine.
Roque said the IATF is expecting Cebu to comply with the task force’s whole-of-nation approach in swabbing incoming Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) by June 13.
“So on the 13th of June, the protocols on arriving OFWs and ROFs will be implemented in Cebu,” Roque added.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will continue to allow the departure of foreign nationals with approved immigrant and non-immigrant visas even if they have not yet been issued their alien certificate of registration identity card (ACR I-Card).
In an advisory, Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Bureau extended until Dec. 31 this year its policy temporarily allowing foreigners with approved and implemented visas to leave pending release of their ACR I-Card.
He explained that in lieu of the ACR I-Card, the departing aliens need only to present official receipts of the ACR I-Card waiver application fee and reentry permit (RP) or special return certificate (SRC).
Morente said the extension is due to the implementation of the community quarantine in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces and the relatively high number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
BI Deputy Commissioner J. Tobias Javier, whose office processes ACR I-Card waiver applications, said he recommended the extension so as not to inconvenience foreigners who wish to leave the country during the pandemic.
“Immigration officers, upon presenting official receipts of fees paid by the alien, should ensure that the passenger has a valid visa implemented on his or her passport before clearing the latter for departure,” Javier said.
He also advised the departing aliens to safekeep their official receipts as the same shall serve as their ACR I-Card waiver which theywould need to present upon their return to the country.
Javier stressed that payment of the ACR I-Card waiver application fees and corresponding ECC or RP/SRC fees are only allowed at the BI main office and authorized sub-port offices.
“We will continue to find ways to ease the burden of foreign nationals during this pandemic, while ensuring that said aliens are still in compliance with immigration laws,” said Morente.