The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) stressed Friday, March 26, that localities should be allowed to impose quarantine restrictions, including the mandatory coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, on travelers and even non-resident Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APORs).
LPP president and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said in an interview over ABS-CBN that the consensus was reached by most league members in the wake of the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite or "NCR Plus" which prompted the government to put it under a general community quarantine (GCQ) "bubble" from March 22 to April 4.
In the group’s request to the Inter-Agency Task force (IATF), Velasco explained that allowing the local government units (LGUs) to reject the entry of non-complying travelers, especially those coming from the COVID-19 hotspots, will ease, if not prevent, the spread of the virus in the point of destinations.
However, Velasco pointed out that APORs who are residents of the area of destination will be allowed entry even without a COVID-19 test.
Stressing that the travelers should have a clean bill of health, Velasco noted that the provincial government should be given the discretion if they wish to require RT-PCR or antigen tests on travelers or non-resident APORs.
The LPP head explained that first and second class municipalities may require RT-PCR tests since they have molecular facilities while antigen test may suffice for third, fourth, and fifth class localities without such facilities.
Generally, Velasco said that most governors prefer the antigen test which is less costly than the RT-PCR test and with the results available within the day.
But Velasco pointed out that some provinces do not require any COVID-19 tests as they prefer to boost their tourism industry, like what Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia has implemented.
As for other COVID-19 test options, Velasco said that saliva test is still not allowed by the Department of Health (DOH) as stressed by Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega.