DAVAO CITY – A total of 99 Filipino seamen repatriated from Fiji arrived at Davao International Airport (DIA) on Wednesday via a chartered flight of Garuda Indonesia, Davao City Tourism Office head Generose Tecson said on Thursday.
Tecson said, in a text message, that the fishermen, who are residents of various provinces of the country, will undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on the seventh day of their 10-day hotel quarantine in the city before they will be sent home to their provinces.
The repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were fishermen hired in Fiji, will undergo another four days of home quarantine to complete the requirement of 14-day mandatory quarantine.
“They are not all from Davao. Davao is just a port of entry where they can be quarantined,” she said during a virtual press briefing of AFP-PNP Press Corps Southern Mindanao held last Wednesday, noting that the chartered flight was directed to DIA since it was open to international flights.
She added that Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Cebu have limitations as to the number of international flights that can land there.
“There is a limitation on the number of passengers that can be accepted by NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) and Cebu, which is not enough as compared to the volume of passengers who want to return home. This is why, we have airlines asking if it’s possible to land in Davao where international passengers can be quarantined before they head for their local destinations,” said Tecson.
She added that the arrival of fishermen from Fiji served as a “dry-run” for local authorities on how to handle international passengers in preparation for the eventual coming in of international flights here since more airlines have expressed interest to utilize the city as their port of entry now that at least 16 hotels in the city with a total of 600 rooms have already qualified as quarantine hotels.
“We’re gearing for that. That’s our aim because this will be an opportunity for hotels, as we know that the passengers need 10 days for quarantine,” she said.