PRESIDENTIAL spokesperson Harry Roque said that distressed migrant workers stranded in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates may now fly back home via special commercial flights that would only be carrying Filipinos.
“The special commercial flights shall likewise be exclusive for Filipinos,” Roque said.
He said the government’s pandemic task force finally gave the green light to special commercial flights for stranded Filipinos in the seven countries covered by the inbound travel ban imposed by the government.
The Palace official said the flights should be approved by the government’s special working group formulating health protocols to prevent the entry of those infected with the contagious virus.
The special working group, which would be closely coordinating with airline companies, is composed of the Department of Health, the Bureau of Quarantine, the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Transportation and its One-Stop Shop, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Tourism.
“Also, the guidelines on the implementation of exemptions for the Philippine government and non-Philippine government repatriation shall be followed,” Roque added.
Inbound travelers from the seven countries have been restricted since April. For the duration of the government-imposed travel ban, only those forming part of the country’s repatriation efforts were allowed to enter the country, as part of the border controls imposed by authorities in an effort to prevent the entry of what has been claimed by experts to be a much more vicious COVID-19 strain referred to as Delta variant.
First detected in India, the virus type raised concern among health experts worldwide since it was found to be more transmissible than the variant first identified in the United Kingdom and would likely cause hospitalization among those infected.
Thousands of Filipinos in the UAE, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have since called on the government to lift the travel ban so they can return to the Philippines. Some of them admitted that their visas had already expired.