(Eagle News)–International travel restrictions remain in place even if Metro Manila is placed under a general community quarantine starting June 1, the Bureau of Immigration said on Friday, May 29.
According to Immigration chief Jaime Morente, all foreigners can leave anytime but Filipinos are still not allowed to leave unless they are permanent residents or holders of student visa in their country of destination.
Under existing guidelines approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force Against Infectious Diseases (IATF), only Overseas Filipino Workers; Filipino citizens and their spouses and dependents; permanent residents; and foreign diplomats are allowed to enter the country.
Bureau acting port operations chief Grifton Medina said as for passenger flights, these are mostly repatriation flights that transport returning OFWs and chartered sweeper flights that bring foreigners stranded in the country back to their homelands.
He added immigration officers at the NAIA currently serve an average of only 20 to 30 flights a day, a third of which are special flights that ferry medical supplies and other kinds of cargo into the country.
“As a consequence, our operations at NAIA are still downscaled and our personnel there are still on skeletal and rotational deployment,” Morente said.
“Nonetheless, we assure the public that we are always ready to resume full, normal operations in our international airports once the government decides to ease or lift these travel restrictions,” he added.
