Malacañang has defended the government's planned temporary closure of the country's borders to certain travelers, saying such "decisive action” was crucial to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus in the country.
The government task force in charge of implementing the anti-coronavirus plan earlier announced plans to prohibit the entry of foreigners and returning citizens -- except for overseas Filipino workers -- into the country for a month starting March 20.
"Kailangan nating gawin ang decisive na action na ito para hindi po kumalat ang virus pati na po yung mga variants nito (We need to implement this decisive action to prevent the further spread of the virus and the new variants in the country)," Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a video message sent to Palace reporters Wednesday, March 17.
According to Roque, the travel suspension would cover "foreigners and returning overseas Filipinos who are considered as non-overseas Filipino workers beginning Saturday, March 20, 2021, 12:01AM until April 19, 2021."
The Memorandum Circular No. 5, issued by the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) Tuesday, also imposed a limit on number of people allowed to enter the country to 1,500 per day.
The latest government decision was made "in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and the entry of the coronavirus variants in the country,” Roque said.
Roque also clarified that the task force would still allow certain travelers, including distressed Filipino workers, diplomats and medical personnel, to enter the country.
Exempted from the travel restrictions are the following:
-- holders of 9 (c) visas
- medical repatriation and their escorts duly endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) or the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
- distressed returning overseas Filipinos duly endorsed by the DFA-OUMWA
- and emergency, humanitarian, and other cases as approved by the NTF
Roque said the concerned government agencies have also been "directed to limit the number of inbound international passengers, or those arriving in the Philippines, to only 1,500 a day."
The latest decision comes after the country's cases of coronavirus soared to 631,320 with 12,848 deaths as of March 16. More than 560,000 people have recovered from the illness based on the data released by the Department of Health.