DAVAO CITY – The city government of Davao will no longer require locally stranded individuals (LSIs), returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), and other travelers to present letters of acceptance upon arrival in this city.
City Mayor Sara Duterte said that the city government has decided to dispense with the letter of acceptance in accordance with the May 22 advisory issued by Interior and Local Government Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco V. Densing III, which indicated that the certificate of acceptance by the receiving local government unit was no longer a requirement in the management of returning residents.
“The city government of Davao will accept all travelers, except tourists, to Davao City subject to the established protocols upon their arrival in the land quarantine control points, airports, and seaports,” she said in an advisory issued on Saturday.
She added that land travelers en route to other local government units, passing through Davao City, would be escorted from the entry to the exit point while airplane passengers, who are non-Davao residents, should coordinate with their respective local government units for the required documents and arrange their transportation or LGU pick-up vehicle.
The local government of Davao requires all inbound passengers, who have no negative transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results issued within 72 hours before departure from the airport of origin, to undergo COVID-19 testing at the Davao International Airport.
The city will shoulder the expense for the tests.
Passengers will be placed in isolation facilities within the airport where they will have to wait for the RT-PCR test results that will be released within 24 hours.
Duterte said the COVID-19 laboratory of DOT-Davao will be placed at the Los Amigos Health Center, and will be devoted for the use of arriving air passengers.
She said that the local government was complying with the requirements to accredit the health center as a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory.